162 



Report of the Kew Committee. 



The Committee have also represented to the Office of Woods and 

 Forests, the inconvenience to which they are at present subjected by 

 the greatly increased cattle traffic through the existing entrance to 

 the Old Deer Park, since the change of tenants of the park ; H.M. 

 Commissioners have for some | time had under consideration the 

 provision of a new entrance to the road leading to the Obser- 

 vatory, which shall avoid the passage through the two unfenced 

 cattle lairs, at Clarence Street, Richmond, with their attendant 

 inconvenience and danger ; but no change has, up to the present, been 

 made. 



In order to provide additional space for the accommodation of 

 the growing work at the Observatory, the Committee have obtained 

 plans from H.M. Office of Works for the erection of two rooms 

 on the roof of the thermometer testing room in the present west 

 wing. They propose to proceed with building operations during next 

 summer. 



The Librarian is still engaged in the preparation of a card cata- 

 logue of the library, and has now completed over 1,700 cards, which 

 contain the titles, &c, of all works received by the Committee during 

 the past nine years, together with those of a like title which had 

 been received previously. 



The publications not yet catalogued formed part of Sir E. Sabine's 

 Magnetic Office collection, and are chiefly excerpts from foreign 

 publications and reports. 



Workshop. — The machine tools procured for the use of the Kew 

 Observatory by grants from the Government Grant Fund or the 

 Donation Fund have been duly kept in order. 



Mr. T. Fuller, the former lessee of the Old Deer Park, having 

 resigned his tenancy, the Committee have addressed the First 

 Commissioner of Woods and Forests, and he has decided that in 

 future the land attached to the Observatory shall be let direct from 

 the Crown to the Committee, without the intervention of the park 

 tenant. 



Exhibition of Instruments. — Several instruments were shown by 

 the Committee at the twelfth annual exhibition of the Royal Meteo- 

 rological Society, which was composed of Rain Gauges, Evaporation 

 Gauges, &c. 



Registration of the Committee under the Companies Act. — The Com- 

 mittee have come to the conclusion that it would be of advantage to 

 them, in the transaction of their business, to obtain registration 

 under Section 23 of the Companies Act, 1867 ; and they have ob- 

 tained the sanction of the President and Council to their making 

 application to the Board of Trade for this purpose. The matter is 

 still under consideration. 



