staff of tin- Kx pei lit ion have l>een consulted as to different points arising in the course of the, examination 

 of the oWrvations. 



The preparation of a report upon the climatology of South Victoria Land and the neighbouring seas was 

 entrusted to Captain CAMPHKU. HKPWORTH, Marine Superintendent of the Meteorological Office, and 

 notes (in various aspects of the collected observations have been written by Mr. R, H. CURTIS, Super- 

 intendent of Instruments, Dr. C. CHREE, F.R.S., and Mr. W. H. DINES, F.R.S. Mr. C. T. R. WILSON, 

 F.R.S., has contributed the report upon the observations of atmospheric electricity. 



Observations were made with ozone papers (p. 4), but it has not been found practicable to formulate the 

 results. Lieutenant ROYDS' note that the coloration of the papers was most marked during heavy 

 southerly gales should be remembered in connexion with the occurrence of abnormally high electrical 

 potentials in drifting snow. 



The division of the responsibility for the discussion of the observations between a number of different 

 persons is a method of procedure which is subject to obvious disadvantages, but in the present case 

 it was inevitable. The task of dealing with observations in the absence of the observers themselves 

 is always a difficult one, especially so in the case of the " Discovery " observations, because there 

 was no opportunity for preliminary understanding as to the course to be pursued and the precautions 

 to be taken to ensure accuracy and avoid ambiguities. In preparing the observations for press, 

 careful comparison was made between the original entries in the rough books and the final records 

 in the register and the curves of the self-recording instruments. .A number of doubtful points were 

 thereby resolved. \Yhile this work was going on, the auxiliary observations from ships and land 

 stations south of latitude 30 S. were examined, transcribed on to separate sheets for each day, and plotted 

 on charts. 



It is essential that a primary discussion of observations thus obtained should be undertaken by those 

 who have conducted the examination and seen the evidence for the readings adopted in cases of doubt ; 

 otherwise the conclusions drawn may be weakened, if not invalidated, by stress being laid on uncertain 

 values. The programme that was approved by the Committee included a primary discussion of the land 

 observations by Mr. R. H. CURTIS, who was in charge of the documents from Winter Quarters, and 

 of the auxiliary marine and land observations in relation to the observations at Winter Quarters by 

 Captain HEPWORTH. The points referred to Dr. CHREE and Mr. DINES were special points concerning 

 the instruments employed, or observations which were outside the ordinary routine. It was my 

 purpose to complete the examination and printing of the observations forming the Journal as soon as 

 possible and to distribute the copies to those who were engaged upon the discussions, so that the whole of 

 the material might be at their service. I then hoped to gather up the threads and deal with the general 

 meteorological bearings of the results. 



But this programme has not been fully realised. The task of examining and editing the observations 

 has been a very long and difficult one. The plan of supplementing the staff of the Office by persons 

 appointed temporarily, and therefore subject to frequent changes, proved unworkable, and when the special 

 funds were exhausted the duty was taken over by the Office staff. In the meantime special transcripts of 

 data were supplied to Dr. CHREE and Mr. DINES, and their notes were completed before the printing of 

 the Journal was accomplished. Moreover, the various authors used a permissible latitude in interpreting 

 their terms of reference, and travelled, to a certain extent, over each other's ground. The titles of their 

 contributions have been adjusted accordingly. 



While this work has been in progress the Office itself has passed through many changes. As Director I 

 succeeded in 1905 to the responsibilities of the Council for the administration of the internal affairs of the 

 Office, and therewith presumably to the undertaking with the Royal Society to carry out the preparation 

 of the Antarctic observations for publication ; but the various duties incidental to the changes in 

 administration have left me less opportunity for taking a personal share in the discussion of the observations 

 than I anticipated. 



The pressure of Office business has also postponed the preparation of a paper on " The Sequence of 

 Weather Changes as indicated by the Antarctic Records." This was entrusted to Mr. R. G. K. LEMPFERT, 

 who joined me in the authorship of " The Life-History of Surface Air-Currents," a strictly cognate subject. 



