91 



THIRD REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF SCIENCE RELATIVE TO 

 THE METEOROLOGICAL AND TIDAL OBSERVATIONS. 



[Received by the Council, March 8, 1851.] 



The Committee of Science, having heen intrusted with the or- 

 ganization and superintendence of the Meteorological and Tidal 

 Observations, believe it to be their duty to submit to the Council an 

 account of the progress of that undertaking, from the period of 

 their last Report on the subject to the present time. 



At the period referred to, the plan of observation had been de- 

 finitively arranged; the coast-guard stations had been selected, with 

 the sanction of the Comptroller-General; and the necessary orders 

 had been issued by that officer to the inspecting commanders of the 

 several districts. The Committee, in consequence, placed them- 

 selves in communication with these officers, and the result of that 

 communication has been a partial modification of the arrangement 

 of the stations originally proposed. Portrush, in the county of 

 Antrim, has been substituted for Ballycastle; and Killybegs, in the 

 county of Donegal, for Mullaghmore. Old Head and Ardglass were 

 subsequently abandoned as tidal stations, chiefly on account of 

 difficulties connected with the erection of the tide-gauges ; but the 

 Committee deeming it important that their places should be sup- 

 plied by new stations on the north-eastern and western coasts, an 

 application was made by the Council to the Comptroller-General 

 on the subject, in the month of October, the result of which has 

 been the establishment of the tidal stations of Cushendall, in the 

 county of Antrim, and Bunown, in the county of Galway. The 

 coast-guard stations, twelve in number, are accordingly the follow- 

 ing: — On theEast Coast — Portrush, Cushendall, Donaghadee, Kings- 

 town, Courtown, and Dunmore east; and on the West Coast — Bun- 

 crana, Killybegs, Bunown, Kilrush, Cahirciveen, and Castle- 

 townsend. 



Upon the suggestion of the Committee, an application was made 

 by the Council to the Ballast Board, requesting their co-operation. 

 This application was favourably received, and orders were in con- 

 sequence issued to the light-keepers at some of the principal light- 



