H.—3oa.

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Report by Mr. Todd. 34. Mr. Todd, in accordance with Eesolution XXVII., reported as follows:—Under Eesolution I.: That he would hereafter lay before the Conference the form of weather bulletin posted at the Adelaide Telegraph Office, at the Exchange, and at Port Adelaide. 35. Under Eesolution II.: That nothing had been done, since the Sydney Conference had not arrived at any decision as to the form to be adopted, leaving it open to each Director to publish the results of his own observations for his own purposes in his own way A copy of the observations for January, 1879, was put in, to show the form in which the observations for South Australia had been published ; also a copy of the weather map taking in the whole of Australia and New Zealand upon which it is proposed to lay down isobars. 36. Under Eesolution 111. : That, as the outcome of the last Conference, a vote has been obtained from Parliament for providing the Observatory at Adelaide with self-recording instruments —namely, a barograph, thermograph, anemometer, and ombrograph. Had deferred ordering the anemometer, knowing that Mr. Ellery was making one on an improved principle, and it was probable that a similar instrument would be adopted at the Adelaide Observatory 37 Under Eesolution IV : That the following are the first-class stations (as defined at the Sydney Conference) in South Australia: Adelaide, Cape Northumberland, Cape Borda, Alice Springs, Port Darwin, Eucla, Mount Gambier, Eobe, Strathalbyn, and Kapunda. Barometer stations have been established at Streaky Bay, Port Augusta, and Daly Waters. There are thermometer stations at Goolwa, Mount Barker, and Clare. At Cape Northumberland, Cape Borda, Alice Springs, and Port Darwin observations are taken every three hours, day and night. At the other stations observations are taken generally at 9 a.m., 3 p.m., and 9 p.m. ; but at some of them at 9 a.m., 12, 3 p.m., 6 p.m., and 9 p.m. It is intended to establish additional barometrical stations, and to make them first-class stations. The proposed first-class stations are Streaky Bay, Port Augusta, Farina, and The Peak. In addition to the stations named, there are nearly 200 rainfall stations throughout South Australia. 38. Under Eesolution V : That barometers of Fortiu's construction are used, not the Board of Trade form. 39. Under Eesolution VII. : That it had been left to him to secure the co-operation of Western Australia, which he had accomplished by the kind courtesy of the Hon. Mr. Fraser, Surveyor-General. That recently observations had been made at 7.30 a.m., in order that the report might reach the eastern colonies early enough to be included in their daily reports. 40. Under Eesolution IX. : That he was able to say that the South Australian Government would bear its share of the expense of the cable weather telegrams. 41. Under Eesolution XL: That in the South Australian Telegraph Department precedence is given to all weather telegrams before everything else, but that the same rule did not appear to apply to the other Australian Colonies. 42. Under Eesolution XII. : That no action had been taken, but desired to mention, en passant, that Alice Springs Station is at an elevation of 2,100 feet above sea-level. 43. Under Eesolution XVIII.: That the daily weather telegrams are not precisely consistent with the resolution, the Sydney Observatory, for instance, sending the humidity, whilst from Melbourne were sent the readings of the wet- and dry-bulb thermometers. The synoptic reports are not regularly received. 44. Under Eesolution XX.: That South Australia has been divided into the tropical and extratropical districts, the stations in the tropics being Port Darwin, Daly Waters, Powell's Creek, Tennent's Creek, and Alice Springs. 45. Under Eesolutions XXII. and XXIII. : That the resolutions are strictly carried out. 46. Under Eesolution XXIV : That experiments with swinging thermometers had been carried out, the results of which would be presented to this Conference at a future meeting. 47 Under Eesolution XXV : That he had not yet succeeded in getting records of self-registering tide-gauges. 48. That the meteorological statistics had always been in his hands. Report by Mr. Ellery. 49. Mr. Ellery, in accordance with Eesolution XXVII., reported as follows :—Under Eesolution IT.: That he had not changed the mode of publication, for the reason that nothing had been definitely decided on by the Sydney Conference. 50. Under Eesolution III.: That there are now in Victoria the following first-class stations—viz., Melbourne, Portland, Cape Otway, Wilson's Promontory, Gabo Island, Sandhurst, Ballarat, and Echuca. That Mount Macedon and Omeo are about being made first-class stations. Echuca is the only firstclass station established since the last Conference, any extension of the system during that time, beside the alterations mentioned, being confined to third-class stations. 51. Under Eesolution VII. : That soon after the last Conference he had requested the Victorian Government to place him in communication with the Tasmanian Government in order to secure their co-operation in the scheme. Through some misunderstanding, the application was not made to Tasmania, but he had subsequently taken the best steps open to him to induce the Tasmanian authorities to join in the Australian scheme. The Government had been again directly invited to send a delegate to the Conference, but in the telegram produced they stated that they could not send one, although they concurred in the objects sought to be attained by the Conference, and promised to communicate with the Chairman by letter or memorandum. The Hon. the Chief Secretary of Victoria had been requested to convey to them the information that the Conference would commence its sittings on the 21st instant, and would be very glad to hear from them. He had no doubt that the co-opera-tion of Tasmania would in a very short time be secured. 52. Under Eesolutions IX. and X.: That the Victorian Government had consented to exchange weather telegrams, and had placed upon the estimates for the current year a sum of £90 to meet Victoria's share of the cost. They had been prepared ever since last June to bear this expense.