ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 143, 14 December 1923, Page 8

ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY

REPORT ON .YEAR'S' WORK.

A general, meeting of the . New - Zealand Astronomical Society will be held at the Dominion Musuem this evening to receive the annual report, and deal with the election of officers and other business. The annual report of the' council states that the. membership of. the society, in spite, of several losses by resignation and otherwise, maintains the; level ot the previous year, there being about eighty members on the roll. .Special .mention is made of the loss by death of Mr. C. P. Powles, an ori<rma! member of the society, who dfd much in furtherance of the interests of astronomy.

It has "been decided to hold an election of office-bearers only every second year. The election has taken place for officers for 1924, and the result will be announced at the meeting. During the year, the report stated the society has had much discussion ' and correspondent relating to the-Yale-.Uni-versity scheme for co-operating with New Zealand in establishing an observatory in this country. On 19th July a deputation from the society waited on"the Prime Minister and elicited his strong sympathy for the scheme, and'the :promise of a favourable recommendation to Cabinet. A generous donor, Mr. Horatio Massey, promised to give £5000 on condition that the telescope should be placed in tiie South Island. Meanwhile, however, the- city of Auckland offered the University of Yale .up. ko £3000 towards an' observatory to be built in that city, and the Yale authorities have now taken steps to secure the observations necessary for testing the visual conditions of that site. It has been .recognised for years' that no reliable information exists relating to the steadiness and visual definition, at any point in New Zealand. A Government promise of funds for the testing of'sites was nullified by the sudden financial .crisis in 1921, and when the renewal of the promise of funds was received last September the society had the mortification to find this offer again withdrawn, owing to the closure of the arrangements between Yale and ' Auckland. In Wellington and in Nelson the testimr of sites by. Mr. Hudson and Messrs. Gibbs. and Morley respectively has been going on for some months, and,it is gratifying to find such - competent observers "willing to do this work voluntarily; but it is greatly to be regretted that a comprehensive testing of the most promising sites in New Zealand has not' yet been undertaken. Owine to this absence of information the Yale authorities, in the event of the Auckland site proving unsatisfactory, will have no alternative but to no to South Africa. ' .

The society has been interested also in the acquisition by the Wellington City Council of the fine nine-inch Cooke telescope belonging to the St. Mary's Seminary at Meeanee. The establishment of a well?equipped municipal observatory would be of great value in the education of the public, besides, affording further opportunities for scientific' work by local amateurs. ■ ■ ■■■ ■