xxsvi Report — 1860. 



buildings containing iron, and have copper fittings. The instruments required 

 for these purposes are an inclinometer and a unifilar, the latter having pro- 

 vision for the experiments of deflection and vibration, as well as lor the abso- 

 lute declination : the cost of the first is £30, and of the second £15 ; both may 

 be verified, if desired, at Kew. The little work which is sent to you by the 

 same post as this letter contains a full description of these instruments, and 

 directions for their use. In addition to the charges named above, making iu 

 all £325, the cost of packing, freight, and insurance will have to be taken 

 into the account. 



" One assistant will suifice, as you suggest, for keeping the magnetometers 

 in action, and for tabulation. The absolute values, and the calculation of the 

 results of all the instruments, would be, I presume, the work of the Director 

 of the Observatory himself. Provision must also be made for a supply of 

 chemicals, stationery, and gas. Should it be thought desirable that the instru- 

 ments should be prepared and verified under the superintendence of the Com- 

 mittee of the Kew Observatory, a request to that effect, transmitted by your- 

 self through the Governor of the Colony to the Chairman of the Committee 

 of the Kew Observatory, Richmond Park, London, S.W., would, I am sure, 

 meet immediate attention. That such an institution at the head-quarters of 

 our Australian dominions would be as honourable to those who should be 

 instrumental in its establishment as it would be beneficial to magnetical 

 science, must be a matter of general recognition, and it would, I am per- 

 suaded, find a warm supporter in your present most excellent Governor. 



" I remain, Sir, 



" Your obedient Servant, 

 (Signed) " Edward Sabine." 



" The Rev. W. Scott." 



From the following correspondence which has taken place between Her 

 Majesty's Government and the President of the Royal Society, it will be 

 seen that the establishment of a Magnetical Observatory at Vancouver 

 Island is postponed, in consequence of the war with China precluding the 

 establishment at present of a corresponding observatory at Pekin : — 



" Treasury Chambers, 16th May, 18G0. 



" Sir, — I am directed by the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's 

 Treasury to acquaint you that My Lords have had under their further con- 

 sideration the establishment of an Observatory at Vancouver Island, and 

 the insertion in the Estimates of this year of a vote for that service. 



" My Lords are fully sensible of the importance of obtaining a series of 

 accurate Magnetical Observations at the stations recommended by the Council 

 of the British Association, and it would give them great pleasure to assist 

 without further delay in forwarding objects so interesting for the cause of 

 science. 



" The numerous and pressing claims, however, on the public finances in 

 the present year make it imperative upon My Lords to submit no fresh esti- 

 mate to Parliament which is not of a very urgent character, and where the 

 total limit of expense to be incurred has not been accurately ascertained. 



" In the present instance My Lords must observe that you appear to be 

 under some misapprehension iu supposing that any engagement was entered 

 into by the late Government to establish a Magnetic Observatory at Pekin or 

 elsewhere. On the contrary, the letter of this Board of 6th December, 1858, 

 to Lord YVrottesley states that, ' whatever may be the public advantages to 

 be derived from the proposed new establishments, the object Mould not, 



