112 
Mr. Baxendell, referring to the statement made by the 
President of the Board of Trade in the House of Commons 
on the 15th instant, in reply to the questions put by Colonel 
Sykes respecting storm signals, remarked that a concession 
had certainly been made by the Government, but unfortu- 
nately it had this very objectionable feature, that while it 
would be far less useful than the thing asked for, it would 
involve a very much greater current expense. “ The inform- 
ation which was collected daily by the scientific committee 
would be telegraphed as heretofore to the different ports and 
stations throughout the kingdom in time to allow of forecasts 
to be made in any place where there was a disposition to 
make them.’' But the cost of daily telegraphing all this infor- 
mation to the various outports and stations would obviously 
vastly exceed that of occasionally transmitting telegraphic 
notices of approaching storms; and moreover, it seems 
never to have occurred to the scientific committee nor to 
the Board of Trade that it would require scientific meteoro- 
logists at all the ports and stations to interpret the indica- 
tions afforded by this crude and undigested information, 
men, in fact, with ability to do that which the scientific com- 
mittee shrink from attempting themselves. But such men 
are not to be found at many of the outports, and especially 
at the fishing stations ; and even if they were, it is not to 
be expected that they would voluntarily undertake onerous 
duties which ought to be discharged by a competent public 
officer appointed by the Board of Trade. The scientific 
committee are unwilling to issue storm warnings because 
they are not prepared with a system of forecasting founded on 
a strictly scientific basis ; but this is no valid reason for 
allowing them to abolish the late system, which was work- 
ing so well for the interests of science, commerce, and 
navigation, until they are prepared with something better 
to replace it. And it must be borne in mind that it will 
not in the end conduce to the interests of science, if the 
