XIV 
REPORT OF THE COUNCIL FOR 1912. 
■006 inch, rain falling on one day of the month, surely a record ! 
The cumulative totals for the wettest months since 1841 are 
now October 193*21 inches, August 193*13 inches, July 177*69 
inches. The heaviest fall occurred on May 22nd, when 1*15 
inch fell, 1*14 inch following on June 22nd. 
Observations of Winds show that during 1912 we have had 
“ strong” winds on 46 days, and “calms” on 9. The chief 
winds have been S. (265), W. (252), N. (163), S.W. (113), E. 
(94), and N.W. (87). 
We have had 30 days of “ clear” sky, 148 of “ overcast,” as 
against 122 for 1911 and 127 for 1910. We had 13 thunder¬ 
storms, 26 fogs, both much in excess of 1911. Snow fell on 12 
days, as against 10 for 1911 and 15 for 1910. 
Bright Sunshine was observed for 949 hours only, as against 
1,411 hours for 1911, and 1,229 f° r I 9 10 - This represents only 
217o of what was possible, and a falling off of 11% on the year. 
Thus we had in 1912 only two-thirds of the sunshine of 1911. 
M ineralogy —The Hon. Curator reports that the collections 
are in good order. The minerals in the glazed box under the 
mineral case were removed when the cabinet, so kindly pre¬ 
sented by Dr. Anderson, was installed. They will shortly be 
placed in another part of the gallery. 
Numismatics. —The collection is in good order, and several 
additions have been made during the past year. 
Observatory. —The Equatorial Telescope is in lair working 
condition and is always available for general observations of 
the planets and the more conspicuous stellar features and 
nebulae. The question of inaugurating an Astronomical Section 
of the Society is being discussed, but if the Observatory is to 
be brought into more frequent use than hitherto, it will be 
necessary to have fires in the Observatory stove only very 
rarely, so that all or nearly all the books that are now kept in 
the Observatory and for whose sake the fires are chiefly kept 
up, should be removed to the Museum if room can be found 
for them. Also observers have complained to me of the dis¬ 
agreeable smell from certain meat food for the birds which 
