STUDIES OF THE SKY.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 February 1921, Page 6

STUDIES OF THE SKY.

NATIONAL OBSERVATORY. DR C. E. ADAMS STRESSES URGENT NEED. Palmerston North, Jan. 28. At the Science Congress Dr. C. E. Adams, Government Astronomer, addressed the congress upon the question lot a national observatory and referred to New Zealand’s unique position inthe Southern Hemisphere for the pursuance of the astronomical science. The number of observatories in this hemisphere, he said, is far too small, and the results based on studies of the sky are naturally unsound until the observations of' the southern heavens are more complete. The Yale University was assisting by offering some valuable instruments. In 1913 Miss Mary Proctoi, a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, London, visited New Zealand with the object of raising funds for a .solar observatory. Her interesting lectures are still remembered, and a small fund is held in Wellington made up from the proceeds of lectures and other donations. This fund is to be devoted to a “Proctor Library,” which should ultimately find a home in the national observatory.

While in Nelson Miss Mary Proctor met the late Mr. Thomas Cawthron, and he was so interested in her mission that he wrote to her offering to build and endow a solar observatory at Nelson and to provide £12,000 for this purpose. To satisfy himself that Nelson was a suitable place for a solar observatory, Mr. Cawthron obtained the services of Mr. John Evershed, F.R.S., .the celebrated Indian solar authority. Mr. Evershed spent a month or two testing different sites near, and in, the city of Nelson, and reported favorably on a site on the Port Hills. Mr. Cawthron thereupon had a deed engrossed in which he agreed to provide the sum of £30,000 for a solar observatory. This deed was ready for signature before the war broke out. Mr. Cawthron purchased a site on the Port Hills for a solar observatory, and accepted the gift of an adjoining property for the same purpose, but unfortunately his death in 1915 occurred before he signed the trust deed. The bulk of his estate, some £250,000, was left to found the Cawthron Institute at Nelson, and it is confidently expected that some of these funds will be devoted to the, science of astronomy in which Mr. Cawthron showed such a keen interest. The congress concluded its work this afternoon and students a«l visitors took part in a conversazione in the evening.