7
INTRODUCTION.
The advisability of taking meteorological observations was first officially recognised in 1876, when a meteorological branch was added to the Surveyor General's Department, and readings of the barometer, temperature, etc., were commenced under the direction of the late Sir Malcolm Fraser. In the following year Mr. M. A. C. Fraser was appointed Observer, and continued to hold that office until February, 1896, when it was decided to establish an astronomical observatory, and to transfer the charge of the meteorological department thereto.
Meanwhile the system had been extended by placing instruments in the hands of the postal officials in country towns, and at the end of 1895 there were 15 of these contributing regular returns. The results of the observations up to the end of 1894 have been published in a series of annual reports. Those for 1895 and 1896 were not prepared for press, owing to the fact that the Government Astronomer had no clerical staff, and found his time fully occupied in thoroughly reorganising the service, formulating plans for the new Observatory, and inspecting the astronomical instruments at the workshops in London and Dublin. In 1897 the first of a new series of meteorological reports was issued from the Observatory, and this has been followed by those for 1898 and 1899. In the introduction to the first of these a promise was made to issue a book upon the Climate of this Colony, and the present volume is the fulfilment of that promise.
It is to be hoped that no misconstruction will be placed upon the expression of the opinion that on the whole the observations up to the end of 1896 are not to be compared for general accuracy with those now current. Nothing but the greatest credit is due to Sir Malcolm and Mr. M. A. C. Fraser for their efforts in the cause of science at a time when the Colony was completely out of touch with the rest of the world; but no man can perform impossibilities, and all those who have experienced the difficulties of obtaining satisfactory scientific work from outlying districts of a vast newly-developing country must know that it is next door to impossible to get accurate results without frequent personal visits and continuous inspection. This was not practicable under the former conditions, and it is only to be expected that the reports for those past years (to the end of 1896) frequently indicate carelessness and lack of interest.
These remarks have been considered necessary in order that readers may appraise the following tables at their proper value.
In a somewhat crude inspection of the original returns any obviously incorrect observations have been struck out and all the additions, etc., have been checked, so that it may be safely assumed that the results in this volume give a close approximation to the truth; sufficiently so for all practical purposes, but scarcely to be considered quite accurate enough for the scientist.
It was originally intended to publish results up to the end of 1896 only, but since that time several new stations have been opened in just those regions which are of the greatest popular interest, so the whole has been brought forward to the end of 1899.
In dealing with the figures for Perth two things should be remembered: 1st, that the thermometers were removed in August, 1885, from the neighbourhood of the Surveyor General's office to an octagon-shaped louvered house in the Botanical Gardens, giving apparently a slightly lower record for the later years; and 2nd, that these observations were not discontinued when the Observatory was established. A new series was started at the Observatory on 1st January, 1897, but the figures for Perth, here quoted, are those for the Botanical Gardens up to the end of 1899.
