September 26, 19 12] 



NAl URE 



109 



(3) The form of the Iceland telegrams was the 

 third general subject of consideration ; and, with 

 reference to that, the Director of the Danish service 

 undertook to give effect as far as possible to any 

 modification that was generally acceptable and 

 that might be regarded as permanent. The 

 opinion of the institutes upon the question will 

 therefore be invited. 



(4) The last subject of discussion, mooted by 

 Prof. Willis Moore as a sequel to the deliberations 

 of the recent conference on radiotelegraphy in 

 London, was the notification, to certain centres, of 

 observations at Greenwich noon by all vessels at 

 sea carrying radio-telegraphic apparatus, and the 

 issue of forecasts from the centres to the vessels. 

 The sug'gestion of org'anising the distribution of 

 reports by radio-telegraphy on an international 

 plan was welcomed. Some doubt was expressed 

 as to Greenwich noon being the most suitable 

 international hour for the observations, as it would 

 not fit in well with the European system, and some 

 provision for the more general distribution of the 

 information was mentioned as desirable. As the 

 scheme implied legislati\e action by the various 

 countries, it was decided as a first step to invite 

 the opinions of the various institutes upon the 

 scheme. 



The Commission for Maritime Meteorology and 

 Storm Warnings was chiefly concerned with the 

 question of the signals to be used at night to re- 

 place the day signals already agreed upon. 



Copies of a third edition of the provisional sum- 

 mary of the maritime weather signals at present in 

 use in the various countries of the globe had been 

 prepared for distribution at the meeting. 



The various schemes, either at present in opera- 

 tion or advocated on various grounds, group 

 themselves into (i) schemes of three lanterns in 

 the vertical, (2) two lanterns in the vertical, and 

 (3) one lantern only. The scheme of three lan- 

 terns was proposed by the Bureau Central 

 Meteorologique of France on behalf of the French 

 Ministry of Marine, on the ground that a combina- 

 tion of two lanterns might be confused with 

 signals already adopted in the " regulations for 

 avoiding collisions at sea " or with harbour lights. 

 The Board of Trade approved of these proposals, 

 and undertook to use its good offices to get the 

 harbour lights at 'two ports where confusion might 

 arise so arranged as to obviate that difficulty. 

 On the other hand, a scheme of two lanterns for 

 gales in the four quadrants, with three lanterns 

 for a hurricane, originally proposed by the Com- 

 mission in 1909, and objected to first by the 

 Seewarte, and subsequently by others, on account 

 of the liability to confusion, had been tried by 

 the Seew-arte on the German coast, and no con- 

 fusion had arisen ; whereas the alternative scheme 

 of three lanterns was pronounced unmanageable, 

 and the hurricane signal was accordingly replaced 

 by one red lamp for an " atmospheric disturbance." 



Prof. Willis Moore, to whose initiative the 

 work of the Commission is due, also expressed 

 the opinion that a scheme of three lanterns is un- 

 manageable, and therefore modified the original 

 proposal by proposing two red lamps for a hurri- 

 NO. 2239, VOL. 90] 



cane [instead of one white beiween two redj and 

 one white lamp lor a gaio in the north-west 

 quadrant. One red lamp is ^t present used in 

 some countries to replace any day signal. 



In these circumstances it was evident that there 

 was no general agreement in favour of a single 

 scheme of signals, and it was therefore necess^ary 

 to place the recommendations for the present' oii 

 the lower plane of agreeing that any combination 

 of lamps forming a storm signal shall have the 

 same significance in whatever country it .s used. 



The propositions to be submitted to the various 

 institutes will there!:;re be — that, in countries which 

 use three lanterns in the vertical for storm warn- 

 ings at night, the lanterns shall not be less than 

 two metres apart, and shall be arranged according 

 to the approved scheme of three lanterns ; that 

 in countries which use two lanterns, the lanterns 

 shall be not less than two metres apart, generally 

 four metres or fifteen feet, and shall be 

 arranged in accordance with the original pro- 

 posal of the Commission, with one red lamp to 

 signify an atmospherical disturbance without 

 indication of the direction of the winds instead of 

 three lamps to signify a hurricane ; that in 

 countries which use only one lamp for night 

 signals, one red lamp shall replace any of the day 

 signals. 



It was agreed to take the opinion of the in- 

 stitutes on a proposal to indicate at a signal- 

 station by a green flag or a green lamp, or other- 

 wise, the information that no warning can be 

 hoisted on account of telegraphic communication 

 being interrupted or for some other cause, as is 

 now done at Thorshavn. 



It was also agreed to take the opinion of the 

 institutes upon the desirability of adopting a 

 scheme of international "non-local signals" 

 indicating the position of an atmospheric disturb- 

 ance, on the lines ot the code used at Zikawei and 

 elsewhere on the China coast. Another scheme 

 of day and night signals for a similar purpose, 

 using three cones or three lanterns to indicate the 

 position of a tropical revolving storm, was 

 submitted by Commander Hepworth, and 

 will be circulated also for comments with the 

 report. 



Finally the Commission agreed, on the motion 

 of Dr. van der Stok, to recommend the collection 

 of extracts of data from tJie meteorological logs of 

 ships of all nations for certain ocean squares on the 

 trade routes, with a view to their publication as 

 a contribution to the meteorology of the globe. 



The proceedings of the week commenced with a 

 reception by Mrs. .Shaw at 10 Moreton Gardens 

 on Monday, September 16. Tuesday, Wednes- 

 day, and Friday morning and afternoon, and 

 Thursday morning, were occupied with meetings. 

 Thursday afternoon w-as set free to enable the 

 reports of proceedings to be prepared in the 

 Meteorological Office. Instead of meeting, the 

 delegates visited Kew Observatory by motor, and 

 took tea in Kew Gardens. In the evening thev 

 dined together on the invitation of Dr. Shaw, the 

 President of the International Committee, who was 



