METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS ON BEN NEVIS. 61 



'When, in December 1883, the offer of the Directors to send daily 

 telegrams from the top and bottom of the mountain was declined, the 

 Meteorological Office asked instead for occasional telegrams in these 

 words : "We wish Mr. Omond to use his own discretion, and telegraph 

 to us whenever any very striking change of conditions or a special 

 phenomenon of great interest is recorded." It will be noted that the 

 Meteorological Office made no mention whatever of storms. Since 

 December 1883 Mr. Omond has sent such telegrams as appeared to him to 

 be wished, and no application has been made for upwards of three years 

 for more frequent telegrams or any other inforniation, only that some 

 time ago a request was forwarded that every effort be made that the 

 telegrams do not exceed the sixpenny charge. 



' The request, it will be noticed, was for telegrams whenever any very 

 striking change of conditions was recorded. Now, as a matter of fact, 

 no telegram has been sent with reference to all those storms, forming 

 the immense majority of storms, which have not been preceded or 

 accompanied by a very striking change of conditions. But, further, 

 several telegrams were sent because it seemed to Mr. Omond that the 

 very striking change of conditions which occurred prognosticated settled 

 tveather. Now, in drawing up the memorandum for the Treasury all 

 these, as well as the other telegrams sent, were classed together by the 

 Meteorological Office, and treated as if they had been intended by 

 Mr. Omond to be prognostic of storms, and the nineteen telegrams sent 

 were assumed to be all the warnings of storms which the OlDservatory 

 could send to the office in London. From these data, so arranged for and 

 collected and interpreted, the decision was come to that " in their existing 

 form the telegrams from Ben Nevis are absolutely useless." It might have 

 been predicted before a single telegram was received that no other than 

 such a decision could possibly have been arrived at. 



'While the statement that "in their existing form the telegrams are 

 absolutely useless " is thus unquestionably correct, it is, nevertheless, void 

 of all meaning as respects the matter in hand. What has been done is 

 not an investigation, and it is not science. But the statement underwent 

 a transforming process in its passage to the House of Commons, appearing 

 in this form, viz. : " The Ben Nevis observations are absolutely useless in 

 forecasting weather " — a statement of which it is enough to say that it is 

 incorrect. The Meteorological Office has yet to take the first step towards 

 commencing an investigation into the utility of the Ben Nevis observa- 

 tions for forecasting purposes. 



' On the other hand, the Council of the Scottish Meteorological Society, 

 strengthened as regards the direction of the Observatory by representatives 

 of the Royal Societies of London and Edinburgh and the Philosophical 

 Society of Glasgow, includes men of equal scientific merit with any other 

 Meteorological Council in the country ; and after some years' investigation, 

 their opinion is that the Ben Nevis observations are of the highest utility 

 in the development of meteorology and in framing forecasts of storms 

 and weather for the British islands.' 



Since 1890, when the High and Low Observatories came into operation, 

 no weather telegrams have been asked by or been sent to the Meteoro- 

 logical Council, either from the High or Low Level Observatories, for 

 forecasting purposes. Further, so far as your Committee are aware, the 

 Meteorological Council have, otiicially, neither expressed an opinion as to 



