1874.] Presidenfs Address. 51 



Looking then to the conditions with which the question is surrounded 

 and to the vast country we live in, it is evident that there is no country that 

 offers so large a field and such facilities for observation as does India. In 

 the first place in no country in the world is there so large and so complete 

 a Telegraphic system under one administratioUj in no country in the world 

 are the electrical conditions so good as they are for several months of the 

 year in the drier climates of India, nor is there any Telegraph system that 

 can compete with that of India in the excellence of its mechanical and 

 electrical conditions. 



The expense of making observations would be trifling, and Colonel 

 Robinson, the Director-General of Telegraphs, is fully alive to the importance 

 of the question and is anxious to see the observations carried out. 



Looking then to these circumstances I think it becomes the duty of 

 the Society to urge on the attention of the Government, the desirability of 

 carrying on a complete system of observing earth currents in the Telegraph 

 Department and I would recommend that the Physical Science Committee 

 of this Society consider the question. 



The Society are aware that a scheme for somewhat supplementing the 

 work begun in the " Porcupine" and now being carried on by the " Challenger," 

 was proposed for dredging in the Indian Seas. The Government of India 

 supported the scheme, and the Secretary of State sanctioned the purchase and 

 sending to India of certain appliances selected under the advice of the Royal 

 Society. Some of these have arrived, and I am informed that others are 

 being procured. The progress, however, has been lamentably slow and until 

 all appliances are received, nothing can be done. 



The scheme which was heartily supported by the late Commander-in- 

 Chief, Admiral Cockburn, was, that if such appliances as would be necessary^ 

 were prepared, the Commander-in-Chief, whenever the exigencies of the ser- 

 vice permitted, and which he thought would be frequent, would order one or 

 more of the smaller vessels of the station for the work. 



The Society recommended that a Committee should be formed to direct 

 the operations under these arrangements, but owing partly to the lamented 

 death of Admiral Cockburn, and partly to the non-arrival of the apparatus, 

 no Committee has ever been formed. 



At present nothing can be done in dredging, for I feel sure that our 

 Society would not, in the present unfortunate state of part of the country, 

 wish that Government should incur the slightest avoidable expenditure, but 

 I do think that the Committee should be formed to give the work an exis- 

 tence, the function of the Committee being simply to get, as may be possi- 

 ble, all in readiness so as to take advantage of the first opportunity of any 

 available vessel that might offer, instead of running the risk of losing an. 

 opportunity, however small, through want of preparation. 



