WELLINGTON PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4207, 14 September 1874, Page 2

WELLINGTON PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.

The sixth general meeting was held on Saturday evening, the President (Dr. Knight) being in the chair. NEW MEMBERS. The following new members were elected: —• Messrs. Prank Bailey Passmore, John Gibson Dras, and Herbert Gaby. EXHIBITS. Dr. Hector exhibited a magnificent crystal of carbonate of soda, or the washing soda of commerce, selected from' three tons manufactured by Mr. Herbert Gaby at the Wellington Soap and Candle Works, as being the first commencement of this new branch of industry in the Colony. "He stated that the difficulty of procuring oil of vitriol in the Colony prevented the manufacture of this and many other useful chemical products. White Island had been mentioned as likely to afford a supply of sulphur for vitriol works, but the sulphur is there found largely mixed with sulphate of. lime, and could not be obtained in a pure state in quantity. Still if the manufacture of plaster of Paris were combined with this process, Straight perhaps be made profitable, as same calcination would yield sublimed sulphur and leave plaster of Paris as a residue/ He also exhibited a series of nickel ores lately analysed in the laboratory, from a new locality, the richest samples containing 14 per cent, of nickel combined with zinc, magnesia, and lime in a silicious matrix. PAPERS. 1. On the Hot Winds of Canterbury, by Mr. Alex. McKay, of the Geological Department. The author showed that the statements that had been made regarding the dry character of the nor’-westers were not altogether correct, as they were accompanied by heavy rainfall along the eastern ha-e of the mountain ranges; and gave a particular account of the phenomena of the hot N.W. winds in the McKenzie country and in the valleys leading from Lake Ohau back into the.central ranges. Captain Edwin thought the winds described must he of a local character, and that they might not be from the nor’-west, hut receive their direction from the shape of the mountains. 2. On Certain Disputed Points in New Zealand Ornithology, by Dr. W. L. Buller, E.L.S. This paper gave an account of the result of an examination by Dr. Otto Einsoh, of Bremen, of a series of doubtful species which had been sent for his opinion from the Colonial Museum. 3. On the Longitude of Wellington Observatory, as determined by H.M.S. Challengei’s expedition, by Captain Nares, E.N. This valuable communication confined within narrow limits the determination of the meridian difference between Sydney and Wellington formerly arrived at by the Admiralty surveyors, and after discussing the available data makes the longitude of Wellington Observatory to be llh. 39m. 7‘B4s. east. Captain Nares objects to the present system of time signals, as being liable to mislead seamen, and considers that it would be preferable to drop the time balls at the local time of the various ports, instead of referring them to New Zealand mean time. Dr. Hector thought Captain Nares had misunderstood the method on which the time signals are given, as the chart longitude is strictly adhered to. He evidently supposed that the longitude as determined by Chief Surveyors Jackson and Thomson, which differs from the above by about nine seconds, was used as the basis of the time signals, hut that is not the case. When the hall drops in any port in New Zealand a ship’s chronometer kept to Greenwich time should show 12.30, and any difference will be the error of the chronometer on Greenwich time, which is information requisite for navigation. In calculating the proper time for dropping the ball, the longitudes shown on the chart are adhered to, so that no discrepancy can arise. Captain Edwin thought that the time balls should drop to local time, as otherwise seamen would have to refer their observations to an imaginary meridian. Mr. George did not see what they could want with observations, as when a seaman is in port he must surely know where he is. Dr. Hector said the practice at present adopted was the same as round the British coast, where the time signals for shipping are given in one uniform time, being that of Greenwich, and not in the local time for each place. Besides, the inconvenience to the public would be very serious if local time were again resorted to. The President thought the present system was certainly the best, as the object was to give navigators the correct Greenwich time. He did not see for what purpose they could require local time, but it could be easily obtained by referring to the longitude of the port they were in, as given on the chart, and calculating its difference from the average longitude of llh. 30m. east, which has been adopted as the mean time for the whole of New Zealand. 4. Notes on New Zealand Whale--, by Dr Hector, P.R.S. The author described the skull of a calf of Neobalcena Marginata and some other interesting forms, which he exhibited, and particularly the skull and some other portions of the humpback whale (Migaptera of Gray), which he considered to be the same whale as. recently described by Dr. Gray as a Balasnoptira or Pinner whale. He also gave ,an account of a sulphur bottom whale, seventy feet in length, the skeleton of which he has secured in Port Underwood, and which he considers to be the true Pinner whale. The present lists of whales he thought would have to bo very much reduced in the number of species and even genera.