NA TURE 



685 



THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1920. 



METEOROLOGY AND THE STATE. 



DURING the war, meteorology, like many other 

 branches of science, was utilised to an 

 unexpected extent, and its importance has thereby 

 gained recognition in far wider circles than might 

 otherwise have been the case. The rapid develop- 

 ment of aviation has contributed to this, for 

 accurate forecasts and a knowledge of the con- 

 ditions prevailing in the upper air are of the 

 greatest importance to the airman, and the subject 

 now forms a part of his course of instruction. 



With the cessation of hostilities, the Meteor- 

 ological Office has had to consider the reconstruc- 

 tion which would be necessary in its organisation 

 to meet the larger demands made upon it, and to 

 maintain the expansion and development of the 

 scientific side of the subject which such increased 

 activity demanded. In other countries the meteor- 

 ological service has always been part of one of 

 the Departments of State, but in this country its 

 status has varied from time to time. The Meteor- 

 ological Office began in 1854 as a Department of 

 the Board of Trade for the purpose of collecting 

 information about the meteorology of the sea, to 

 which was added later the study of forecasting. 

 Later, it was placed under a committee appointed 

 by the Royal Society, which administered the 

 funds furnished by an annual grant-in-aid. Since 

 1905 the Office has been under the management of 

 a Committee appointed by the Treasury, and con- 

 sisting of representatives of the Admiralty, Board 

 of Trade, Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, and 

 the Royal Society. Thus the Meteorological Office 

 has for many years been a service mainly sup- 

 ported by State funds, but not attached to any 

 Department, its policy being determined by the 

 Committee responsible for its administration. 



Under these conditions much valuable scientific 

 work has been done, and, whatever the advan- 

 tages of such an independent position may have 

 been, the greatly increased utilisation of meteor- 

 ological information by various Departments of 

 State has recently brought the status of the 

 Meteorological Office under consideration. 



In the report of the Meteorological Committee 

 for the year ending March 31, 1919, a proposal 

 of the Air Ministry made in the spring of 1918 to 

 take over the Office, on account of the importance 

 of meteorology to aviation and of the use of avia- 

 tion to meteorology, is presented ; but no definite 

 action was taken at the time. Later in the year a 



f Committee of the Cabinet was in favour of transfer- 

 NO. 2626, VOL. 104] 



ring the meteorological service to the Department 

 of Scientific and Industrial Research, with a view 

 to the co-ordination of the various meteorological 

 services then existing. Such a scheme appeared 

 to afford a satisfactory means of meeting the 

 requirements of the Departments, and also of 

 maintaining the scientific research essential to 

 advance in meteorology. 



Since then it has been announced by the Under- 

 Secretary of State for Air that the Cabinet has 

 decided that the Meteorological Office should be 

 attached to the Air Ministry, and the amalgama- 

 tion of the staff of the Meteorological Office with 

 that of the Meteorological Service of the Air 

 Ministry is understood to be in course of execu- 

 tion. We may therefore conclude that the 

 importance of the State Meteorological Service 

 to the modern needs of the fighting Services, as 

 well as to the other Departments of State, is 

 such as to render its closer connection with them 

 desirable, and apparently the special needs of the 

 Air Ministry and its exceptional facilities for 

 obtaining information from the upper regions of 

 the atmosphere have led to its selection as the 

 Ministry to which the Meteorological Office should 

 be attached. 



Such recognition of the importance of meteor- 

 ological science, and the co-ordination of different 

 services dealing with the subject, are to be wel- 

 comed, but men of science will wish to see the 

 freedom for investigation and research which has 

 been a special feature of the Office under its former 

 committees of management fully maintained 

 under the new conditions arising from its re- 

 incorporation in a State Department. Some mis- 

 givings on this point seem to exist, for the 

 council of the Royal Meteorological Society, in a 

 resolution published elsewhere in this issue, while 

 recognising the advantages which the Meteor- 

 ological Office may gain from a closer association 

 with the Air Ministry, suggests that there may be 

 a tendency for certain branches of meteorology 

 to be relegated to a subordinate position of import- 

 ance if the management of the Service rests with 

 a single Department having special interests of 

 its own. 



Here we meet the difficulty of reconciling the 

 advantages gained from the support and resources 

 of an influential Ministry with such restrictions as 

 are inseparable from the administration of a large 

 Service. The special interests and requirements 

 of a controlling Department will naturally appeal 

 more strongly to its administrators, and proposals 

 for expenditure on schemes will gain more sym- 

 pathy and support than others with which they 



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