TBE TROE TEMPER OF EMPIRE. 



307 



The energy of Mr. Chamberlain, his successor, the hearty co- 

 operation of those on whose technical knowledge the success of 

 the work depended, and the courage and endurance of those 

 who bore the burden of the climate and the labour of con- 

 struction is doing the rest. In 1898 there was not a mile of rail 

 open to traffic in West Africa. Within five years, nearly 500 

 miles were open to traffic on the Gold Coast and in Nigeria and 

 Sierra Leone, and these lines are now being run with success 

 and rapidly extended. They have been constructed through 

 dense forests, in a deadly climate, which, in spite of every 

 precaution in accordance with approved principles of malaria 

 prevention, caused constant change in the staff of every grade : 

 amid difficulties arising from heavy rainfall, from scarcity and 

 inferiority of labour, from conditions under which cargo had 

 to be landed, as on the Gold Coast, by surf boats and lighters on 

 an open roadstead ; while native revolts and military operations 

 interrupted and delayed the work. 



Meteorology. 



But it is after all the transport of our sea-borne commerce 

 upon which the economic prosperity of the Empire mainly rests, 

 and among the problems of transport in tropical seas is the 

 problem of the security of navigation from cyclonic disturbances. 

 The science of meteorology is of the first importance to the 

 security of navigation, and the tropical island of Mauritius, 

 exceptionally situated as a station for the study of the law of 

 storms, has made a large contribution to the practical results of 

 the study. This was mainly due to the devotion of a single 

 man, the late Dr. Charles Meldrum. His work had two main 

 results in determining the law of storms. By study of the logs 

 of ships traversing the Indian Ocean, and plotting on a chart 

 the direction and force of the wind, the barometer reading, the 

 temperature, the state of the sea-currents experienced by every 

 vessel as nearly as possible at Mauritius noon, on successive 

 days, he obtained a series of weather charts, showing the hori- 

 zontal circulation of the atmosphere with the barometric and 

 temperature gradients from day to day. From these charts he 

 discovered, and was one of the first to announce, that the wind 

 in cyclones blows spirally towards the centre and not in circles 

 round it as was previously supposed. The importance to navi- 

 gation of this discovery can hardly be exaggerated. 



I will not dwell here on the many other valuable results of 

 the study of meteorology at this station. A recent writer in 



