Ixxxyvi REPORT—1899. 
Prime Minister’s Office, Cape Town, May 13, 1899. 
Ministers have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of His Excellency the 
Governor and High Commissioner's Minute, No. 71, of the 19th ultimo, forwarding 
for their consideration a copy of a letter from Sir William Crookes, President of the 
British Association for the Advancement of Science, urging the establishment of a 
Magnetic Observatory at the Cape. 
In reply thereto, Ministers have the honour to state that they have much sym- 
pathy with the suggestion to establish a Magnetic Observatory, and do not overlook 
the scientific and practical aspects of the project, but do not regard as practicable 
the immediate provision by this Colony of funds for the carrying out of the scheme. 
(Signed) W. P. SCHREINER. 
(3) That the Council be requested to consider the advisability of urging 
Her Majesty’s Government to place at the disposal of the Seismological 
Committee of the British Association a suitable building for the housing 
of apparatus for continuous seismological observations. 
A Committee, consisting of the President, the President-Elect, the 
General Officers, Professor Riicker, Professor Ewing, and Professor Judd, 
was appointed to report on this resolution. 
The Committee, having received and considered a memorandum, 
drawn up by Professor Milne, on the position and requirements of the 
Seismological Investigation Committee of the Association, reported that 
in their opinion it is desirable that a Central Station should be established, 
and recommended the Council to request the Government to place a suit- 
able building at the disposal of the Seismological Committee which could 
be used as a station for carrying on observations, and would serve as a 
centre for the stations (now twenty-three in number) in various parts 
of the world which, at the request of the Committee, have been supplied 
with seismographic apparatus of the pattern they have recommended. 
The Council decided to reappoint the Committee for the purpose 
of reporting further on the best situation for the proposed Central 
Seismological Station, and on the cost of its maintenance. 
(4) That the Council be requested to urge strongly on the Indian 
Government the desirability, in the interests both of administration and 
of science, to promote an inquiry, under the direction of skilled anthro- 
pologists, into the physical and mental characteristics of the various races 
throughout the Empire, including their institutions, customs, and tradi- 
tions, and a carefully organised photographic survey. 
A Committee, consisting of the President, the President-Elect, the 
General Officers, Sir John Evans, Professor Tylor, Mr. F. Galton, Mr. C. H. 
Read, and Mr. J. L. Myres, which was appointed to consider this question, 
reported that in their opinion the resolution in its present form is of too 
comprehensive and costly a character to justify the Council in submitting 
it to the Indian Government. A more definite and less ambitious scheme 
would in their opinion be more likely to be entertained by the Indian 
Government. 
(5) That the Council be recommended to issue the collected Reports 
on the North-Western Tribes of Canada in a single volume at a moderate 
price, reprinting so many of the Reports as may be necessary. 
The Council, having been informed that a sufficient number of separate 
copies of the Fifth and the following Reports of the Committee on the 
North-Western Tribes of Canada were in stock for supplying those 
