498 Official Correspondence on the attaching of 



period of the commencement of the storm during which the 

 accident occurred, as well as that of its termination, should 

 also be noted ; and if any remarkable circumstances should 

 have been observed during its progress, the periods of these 

 should further be recorded. 



2. The Locality of the Accident. 



It is of the utmost importance that every circumstance 

 connected with this should be carefully recorded and duly 

 substantiated. When it is possible, plans of the locality, drawn 

 to a scale sufficiently large to admit of the details being dis- 

 tinctly represented, should be prepared. On these every 

 dimension, verified directly by the observer himself, should 

 be laid down in one colour, while those derived from others 

 should be laid down in a different one. A memorandum 

 should be attached, specifying the authorities for the latter, 

 and furnishing an estimate of the value attached to them by 

 the observer. In the case of buildings being struck, their 

 general form and dimensions, both absolutely and with rela- 

 tion to surrounding objects, should be detailed, the nature of 

 their fittings, the quantity of metal they contain, the protec- 

 tion furnished to them by the attachment of conductors, 

 and any other circumstances of a like nature should all be 

 carefully specified. In the event of conductors having been 

 attached to the building, they should be examined with the 

 greatest care. The metal of which they were composed, 

 their dimensions, both as regards their thickness and height, 

 the degree to which they were oxidised, their distance from 

 each other, their height above the highest point of the 

 building, their mode of attachment to the building, and their 

 distance from the walls of the building, the state of their 

 points, and the nature of their underground arrangements 

 should all be recorded, and the authority for each statement 

 specified. The vicinity of metallic masses to the conduc- 

 tors should be noted, and generally any circumstance which 



