AND THE STATE 223 



Society, of which Lord Wrottesley, chairman of the 

 Association's Parliamentary Committee, was Presi- 

 dent, the Council of the Association acquiescing in a 

 series of resolutions which gave effect to the principal 

 recommendations of the report. These were con- 

 veyed to the Government by the President of the 

 Eoyal Society, and their production in both Houses 

 of Parliament was moved for, but in view of 'the 

 peculiar circumstances under which Parliament met, 

 which have much abridged the time at their disposal 

 for the discussion of any measures of importance ' 

 nothing further was done at this time. 



The Council asked the Admiralty to publish the 

 results of the trials of steamships employed in the 

 public service, but the Admiralty did not think it 

 proper to publish information about vessels belonging 

 to private companies. 



The Council was more successful in urging that 

 an annual expedition should be sent to the Niger : 

 an expedition was undertaken by the Govern- 

 ment. 



1857-58. The Association supported a successful 

 application by the Royal Society to the Government 

 for the erection of anemometers at Bermuda and 

 Halifax (Canada), the instruments being made from 

 designs worked out at the Association's observatory 

 at Kew. The Parliamentary Committee moved for 

 and obtained increased accommodation and staff for 

 the Meteorological Department of the Board of Trade. 

 An application to the Government for an expedition 

 to be sent to the Mackenzie River (northern Canada), 

 mainly for the purposes of magnetic observations, 

 was refused. Of much wider interest was another 

 geographical proposal put forward by the Association 



