IN FAR SOUTH

Evening Post, Volume XC, Issue 134, 3 December 1915, Page 8

IN FAR SOUTH

MACQUARIE ISLAND WEATHER REPORTS.

The Dominion Meteorologist reports that the Macquarie Island weather observation station has been closed temporarily, and the final message was received on Wednesday. The station, which communicates by wireless with the mainland, was established by Sir Douglas Mawson as a branch of his Antarctic expedition, and was subsequently taken over by the Commonwealth Government. The Commonwealth Weather Bureau at Melbourne has sent away about ten members of its staff in connection with the war, and is unable to spare the skilled meteorologist who has been stationed on Macquarie Island. New Zealand has contributed towards the support of the station, which has proved of great importance in the investigation of weather conditions in the Southern Hemisphere. It is considered a pity that the station has to be closed, as Sir Ernest Shackleton's expedition is still in the South, and the Macquarie Island plant would have been a most important link in co-ordinating Antarctic conditions with those experienced in lower latitudes. Messages were first transmitted to Wellington on 12th March, 1912. The observers also transmitted to Wellington messages received by wireless from Sir Douglas Mawson's base in Adelie Land.