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air may be affected. “ It is the custom of the department to 
perform the whole of the foregoing operations and to determine 
the forecast after a simple inspection of the list of weather 
returns. No notes or calculations upon paper are made. The 
operation lasts about half-an-hour and is conducted mentally. 5 ’ 
The committee admit that they know nothing as to how Admiral 
Fitz-Eoy dealt with (1) but they next give in their report some 
elaborate calculations founded on the doctrine of probabilities by 
which (as they no doubt suppose, fairly) they show the value of 
the forecasts to be practically nil. I conceive it to be quite 
unnecessary either to reproduce or to comment on this special 
pleading in the face of the testimony set forth in an earlier part of 
this article. If further proof were necessary that the committee 
in doing their work were embarrassed between their prejudices 
on the one hand, and the hard logic of facts on the other, it is 
I think to be found in the circumstance, that, whilst they do 
recommend the discontinuance of daily forecasts, they do not 
recommend the abandonment of the occasional storm warnings, 
but seek to draw a distinction between these (which it is sub- 
mitted), cannot be supported. However as a matter of - fact, 
everything in the nature of prediction has been abandoned, and 
it now remains to be seen what will be the result of the pressure 
which it is sought to bring to bear on the Grovernment and the 
new director of the Meteorological department, Mr. E. Scott. 
Into a general discussion as to the means we possess by notorious 
signs, for anticipating the weather that is to be, the space at my 
disposal does not permit me to enter; the subject, however, as I 
should wish to treat it, is essentially distinct from the purpose of 
this article. 
