New Zealand Times. TUESDAY, MAY 4, 1875.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4406, 4 May 1875, Page 2

New Zealand Times. TUESDAY, MAY 4, 1875.

The approach, of winter has brought upon us some heavy gales, which have, unfortunately, caused considerable loss of life and property at sea. We have lately had to chronicle some sad accidents of this nature, of which the first was the loss of the Euphrosyne, which is now considered to have foundered with all hands, for notwithstanding the careful search made by the yacht Jessie Nicol, no trace of the missing vessel has been found. The next case of this kind was notified by the finding of several parts of a vessel on Cape Farewell Spit, and those whose opinions are entitled to consideration have but little doubt that the fragments were part of the schooner Melbourne, which left Lyttelton for Australia about the latter end of March. This vessel, as some of our readers may remember, paid a short visit to this port about a couple of months ago, and after having discharged a quantity of gunpowder, which formed a portion of her cargo, she sailed for Lyttelton ; and there is now but too much reason to believe she has been lost with all on board. A third accident of this nature seems to have taken place between Port Chalmers and Lyttelton, as some cushions and other portions of cabin fittings have been found on the beach near Oamaru, but wo have not heard any opinion expressed as to what vessel they may have belonged to. The cruise of the yacht Jessie Nicol was, in fact, a very careful search, extending from the vicinity of X > ont-Olia.lmorsi to tko Chatham Islands and back, and was republished in our shipping columns from an account handed to a Dunedin paper; and the generous manner in which her owner placed his vessel at the disposal of those anxious to relievo the uncertainty as to the fate of the Euphrosyne, cannot be too highly commended. Such sad instances naturally cause enquiry as to whether there are no means of giving some warning as to the possible approach of such severe weather—a subject which has already attracted attention in Otago, for we find our contemporary, the Otago Guardian, has lately been placing some information on these matters before its readers; and we take the liberty of making the following extracts from an able article published in that paper on the 2nd of last month :

If we may estimate the amount of interest taken by a community in any subject by the discussion and conversation to which it gives rise, there are no phenomena more interesting to English-speaking nations than those which are comprehended under the term "the weather.” Possibly the principal reason why this is the case is, that there is no subject so ill understood, nor one with which science has hitherto been found so incompetent to deal. For the most part it may be said that, as far as knowledge of the laws which regulate the state of the weather, and the ability to make- trustworthy prognostications with regard to it are concerned, the most accomplished scientist and the most perfect ignoramus are about on a par. The weather, then, is a subject on which all may speak without being afraid that they will incur ridicule through the want of knowledge of the subject about whicli they are talking. It seems, however, that even these phenomena are no longer to be left to remain in the category of the unknown and the unknowable. Scientific men are day by day beginning to feel that it is very possible that the difficulties which havo l ' hitherto appeared to stand in their way, and to prevent them from making meteorology an exact science, are not so formidable as they have been in tho habit of taking for granted. After some remarks as to the progress made in meteorology of late years, the Guardian remarks : It is already pretty generally believed among scientific men that the establishment on a solid and reliable basis of a science of the weather is a mere work of time, and of no great length of time, and that already the researches which have been made are beginning to produce very valuable results. Not to speak of the various "storm signal" services which are being successfully worked in different parts of Europe and America, there arc other ways in which meteorology is being made a very useful public servant, especially in America. A distinguished public lecturer and eminent man of science, Mr. Proctor, tells us that on his recant lecturing tour in the United States he was constantly in tho habit of consulting the official weather forecasts made by tho Government Meteorological Department, and that the oftenor he did so tho more confidence ho felt in them. At last he always made his arrangements for delivering his lectures depend very much indeed on these forecasts, as he found that it was only in a very small percentage of cases that the "clerk of the weather” was at fault. It is needless to insist on the value of such prophecies as this. With a climate like ours there can bo no doubt that tho mere money value, to business men and others, of such forecasts would bo very great, to say nothing about the boon they would prove to tho public, who would thus be able to make arrangements for picnics, excursions, and other amusements, &c., with some certainty of being able to carry them out. Of course, many years must elapse before a small community like ours can hope to be in a position to maintain a meteorological department in full working order, still It is pleasant to loam that such a luxury may be had by us as soon as we can afford it. Having thus shown what can be done in the way of giving storm warnings, our contemporary mentions the results of some recent investigations made by Professor Loomis, of the United States, into tho causes of sudden changes of temperature, which we regret that our space does not permit us to extract, and in a further issue of the 21st April we find a continuation of this subject, wherein wo read:— In England and on the Continent much attention la paid to Weather Telegraphy and to Meteorological Science generally, but there la no syatem conducted on such a grand and highly developed plan os that of the United States. The assembling of an International Congress at Vienna in 1878 showed the importance which is now attached to extended meteorological information, and wo find In their report th- the members of the congress are strongly of opinion that the establishment of an International Meteorological Institute la very desirable. The value of storm signals was unanimously admitted by the congress, and the following extracts from the report of tho sub-commit-tee show In a very marked way what are considered to

be the principal deficiencies of the system now in operation. “In order to make the system of warnings as perfect as possible, according to the present state of' the science, the sub-committee must indicate that the observations and reports baaed thereon should be made as complete and continuous (as regards the former) as is possible, i.e., neither Sundays nor holidays should make a difference to them, and there should not be a complete interruption during the night Representations should be made to the respective Governments to facilitate weather telegraphy as much as possible. This is of importance, not only with reference to the expense, but also with reference to time in respect of the telegrams within each system and from, one central office to another. If telegraphic weather reports ore delayed from the consideration of other despatches, the operation of the system will, in the opinion of the sub-committee, be seriously interfered with.”

We have alluded at various times to the experimental system of storm warning which was instituted by the Hon. W. H. Reynolds about twelve months ago, and many people will, no doubt, be interested in learning that the attempt then made promises to be really useful; for those whose experience enables them to form a just opinion on this subject pay considerable attention to the information now given to them as to the probable approach of bad weather. The success which has attended these efforts has decided the Hon. Acting Commissioner of Telegraphs to mtike arrangements for the earlier transmission of the daily weather report, for it is found that the time occupied in transmitting this report to so many places throughout the colony delays the arrangement of the material so much that it is at times impossible to send away any intimation of expected change until the afternoon, when, in all probability, the weather has already set in, and the warning, though only an experimental one, has arrived too late. This is especially the case when the telegraph wires are affected by atmospheric influences. The Ghiardictn touches on this point in the following manner :

In fact, the present plan of telegraphing the state of the weather, as it exists over the whole colony, to each of its principal towns and seaports, is of questionable public utility. It seems but reasonable to suppose that it is of more interest to residents and seamen at Port Chalmers, for instance, to know what is the state of the weather at. The Bluff, Oamaru, Timaru, Lyttelton, and perhaps Hokitika and the West Coast, than to be informed of what is going on at more distant places, such as Wellington, Napier, or Auckland. For changes which soonest affect each place are those which are occurring in its more immediate vicinity.

There are not many people, we imagine, who will consider the opinion thus advanced by our contemporary as unreasonable, and it seems most probable that if reliable information as to the state of the weather at Castle Point, Kaikoura, and Opunake could be posted up, in place of the usual report, the public would have matter of more immediate interest at their disposal than at present; and those seamen who cared to obtain it from more adjacent ports, such as Wanganui dr Blenheim, could readily do so by means of the sixpenny telegrams lately made available for them by the Commissioner of Customs. But apart from all this, it appears that the present report does not contain sufficient information whereupon to base such weather warnings as are issued by the European and American offices, and there are several important items which will have to be added to it before any attempt can be made at giving public intimation by storm signal. Wo understand that the supply of this additional matter has already engaged the attention of the Hon. Mr. Reynolds, and those associated with him in this work, and a scheme has been approved of which will be brought into use with as little delay as possible. We are glad to be able to show, by the foregoing extracts, that the subject of meteorological forecasting is becoming a matter of public attention, and we heartily join our Southern friends in wishing the Hon. Mr. Reynolds every success in this very useful work.