xlviii REPORT — 1873, 



Report of the Council for the Year 1872-73 presented to the General 

 Committee at Bradford, on Wednesday , September 1.7th, 1873. 



During the past year the Council have received Reports from the General 

 Treasurer ; and his account for the year will bo presented to the General 

 Committee this daj''. 



The Council have had under their consideration the three resolutions which 

 were referred to them by the General Committee at Brighton, They beg to 

 report upon the action they have taken upon each case. 



First Resolution. — " That the Council be requested to take such steps 



as they deem desirable to induce the Colonial Office to afford sufficient aid 



to the Observatory at Mauritius to enable an investigation of the Cyclones 



in the Pacific Ocean to be carried on there"*. 



In accordance with this Resolution the following correspondence took 

 place between Dr. Carpenter, the President of the Association, and the Right 

 Honourable the Earl of Kimberley, Secretary of State for the Colonies : — 



" British Association for tbc Advancement of Science, 

 22 Albemarle Street, W., December 20, 1872. 



" My Loud, — On behalf of the British Association, I have the honour to 

 bring under your Lordship's notice the following statement respecting the 

 position of the Observatory at the Mauritius : — 



" The Mauritius Observatory is for the most part a Meteorological and 

 Magnetical Observatory. As a Meteorological station, Mauritius is most 

 important ; and tlie present Director of the Observatory, Mr. Charles Meldrum, 

 has taken advantage of his position to work out several important Meteoro- 

 logical problems as far as his means have allowed him. 



'•'■ He has fostered the growth, if he did uot originate, the Meteorological 

 fjociety of Mauritius, of which he is the active Secretarj-, and his researches 

 have \>QQa materially aided by these means. 



" He has collated the logs of vessels crossing the Indian Ocean, extending 

 over a period of between twenty and thirty years, and has derived from these 

 some very important results. In the first place, it has been almost established 

 by these observations that the behaviour of the barometer at the ilauritius 

 affords an indication of storms taking place between that island and the 

 Cape of Good Hope. By a study of these logs of ships he is also able to tell 

 in what directions such storms travel, and thus he is able to give very 

 valuable advice to ships' masters who should happen to be at the Mauritius. 

 Moreover, Mr. Meldrum's recent observations tend to show that the cyclones 

 in the Indian Ocean are periodical, and occur most frequently during those 

 years when there are most sun-spots. 



" In addition to this work, Mr. Meldrum's duties require him constantly 

 to attend to the routine work of his observatory, to keep the time, &c. He 

 is almost unprovided with assistants ; and if he happens to be unwell the 

 current work of the observatory is liable in a measure to be stopped. On 

 account of overwork, Mr. Meldrum has lately been unwell for two months, 

 although uot so unwell as to put a stop to all his scientific labours. 



^ ♦ The resolution -was adopted by the Council, with the following modification: — "That 

 the Council take steps to induce the Colonial Office to afford sulficient pecuniary aid to 

 the Observatory at Slauritius to enable an investigation of Cyclones to be carried on 

 there." 



