lxxxviii REPORT—1905. 
meteorological organisations of foreign countries as well as those of the self- 
governing Colonies. The meteorology of the ocean has been an essential part 
of the work of the office from its establishment in 1854, and oceanic data must 
necessarily be appealed to for the effective study of the meteorology of the 
neighbouring land areas. 
The President and Council of the British Association are informed that 
the Meteorological Office, as at present constituted, has not the means of 
dealing effectively with the various problems of Colonial meteorology, and 
the suggested institution would have to be a distinct department with 
separate provision, whether it was in organic connection with the Office 
or not. 
The President and Council believe that the Government of India, from 
their interest in meteorological investigations, would be willing to contribute 
their fair share towards the maintenance of such an institution, and 
they desire to bring the matter to the notice of the Secretary of State for 
the Colonies with the view of ascertaining the opinion of the various 
Colonies which are interested in the subject. They desire to learn whether 
they would be supported in an effort to obtain the establishment of such an 
institution as had been described. 
By way of summary, the objects of the suggested institution may be briefly 
stated to be :— 
1. To give any information that may be required to the Governments or 
other authorities of the British dominions as to instruments and methods to be 
adopted for an effective system of meteorological observations. 
2. To compile and publish periodical reports upon the climatic conditions 
of the various parts of the Empire upon a comparable plan. To form an 
accessible depository of information upon matters concerning the climates 
of the whole Empire, and to afford information upon those subjects to in- 
uirers. 
; 8. To provide a scientific staff for the study of the general meteoro- 
logical conditions which affect the weather in the various British dominions, 
and in particular to promote the formulation of meteorological laws, and to 
apply them to explain and ultimately to anticipate the occurrences of 
abnormal seasons. 
A copy of this Memorandum having been forwarded to the CoLONIAL 
Orrice, with a covering-letter suggesting that the question might be 
moved by a deputation to the Secretary of State, Mr. Lyttelton replied 
that, whilst sympathising with the object which the Council had in view, 
he did not think that there would be any advantage in receiving a deputa- 
tion until he was in possession of further information on the subject. In 
satisfaction of this request, the Committee drafted the following additional 
information :— 
Draft Memorandum in further explanation of the proposal for dealing 
with the Meteorology of the Colonies and Dependencies, for the infor- 
mation of the Secretary of State. 
This memorandum deals mainly with the object numbered 3 in the con- 
cluding summary of the memorandum approved by the President and Council 
on March 8, 1905, because the services indicated under numbers 1 and 2 would 
be included incidentally in the development of number 3. 
The statement of the object numbered 3 is as follows :— 
To provide a scientific staff for the study of the general meteorological 
conditions which affect the weather in the ceveral British dominions, and in 
particular to promote the formulation of meteorological laws, and to apply 
them te explain and ultimately to anticipate the occurrence of abnormal 
seasons, 
The idea underlying the proposal is to deal with the general meteorological 
conditions of wider areas than those with which the various meteorological 
” 
