SHIPS’ WEATHER REPORTS

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1031, 23 July 1930, Page 13

SHIPS’ WEATHER REPORTS

GOVERNMENT SERVICE STOPPED PAST VALUE TO SHIPMASTERS Shipmasters regret the decision of the Government to stop sending wireless weather reports to vessels at sea and it seems that the cessation will have a considerable effect on vessels in the waters adjacent to New Zealand. Masters have found the information of great value in avoiding storms. Until recently it was customary for ships within reasonable distance of the Dominion to report to-Wellington by wireles every morning at nine o’clock, giving the position of the vessel, the barometer reading, temperature, direction and force of the wind and condition of the sky. The reports were then forwarded to the Wellington meteorological office, where on synoptic charts the combined information was plotted and thus a check kept on the movement of storms in the Pacific. The results of these calculations were then broadcast every evening to all vessels within wireless range, and the listening masters plotted the reports on the meteorological log and on the charts, being by this means enabled to avoid violent storms, and the consequent damage and delay and discomfiture to passengers. USEFUL INFORMATION The listening shipmasters also received other useful information. In addition to the weather conditions in the Pacific the broadcast gave the weather conditions and barometer and thermometer readings at Cape Maria Van Dimen, Auckland, East Cape, Cape Egmont, Napier, Farewell Spit, Stephen Island, Wellington, Cape Campbell, Greymouth, Akaroa, Nugget Point, Puysegur Point, Norfolk Island, Chatham Island, Sydney and Hobart. These reports gave the masters of Vessels approaching New Zealand from any direction the weather conditions near the coast, as well as further away. The decision of the Government to cease sending the wireless weather reports will not leave shipping serviceless, as other stations in the Pacific are still sending messages. Melbourne and Sydney broadcast daily weather reports, derived from information received from wireless stations round the coast. Information received from various parts of the Pacific Islands is broadcast daily from Suva, the advice received enabling the Fijian Meteorological Department to warn all ships and wireless stations of approaching hurricanes, which are most severe during the period from December to April.