SAXBY.

Otago Witness, Issue 930, 25 September 1869, Page 15

SAXBY.

[ Tfe following 1 letter by Lieut. .'Saxby ap T peare in a London contemporary :~ ' - ' * ' Sir, somemontbs since you kindly admitted into your columns a letter from me as to coming weather in October and November next. My warning has,, like a snowball, in rolling so far.'as the antipodes, entirely lost its original shape, and, indeed, it ought to be impossible to trace any reasonable connection between it and the absurd paragraph which (as copied below) appears in -the Hawke's Bay, New Zealand, Herald, of 25fch March last, jastreoeived by me.' One would scarcely have supposed that so ridiculous a hoax could have found its dupeß. I should have been silenfc were it not that atfew months since a gentleman of education iv England (a man of ability in his profession) wrote to ask me to acquaint him (for a public purpose) as to the exact rise of tide which I expected on the 6th of October next Need I say that kucli an opinion cannot be formed by mortal man with any' propriety ? I really must ask the great favour of your inserting this letter, for I never assume to predict anything beyond extraordinary atmospherio disturbances ; and I still declare that I have long done so with infallible aocuraoy. My neighbours in Kent will remember my firm warnings as to the weather to have been expected on Eaater Monday last ; nor will the inhabitants of Dover forget them. The tmwarranbable use of my name occasionally in New Zealand and Australia is calculated nob only to damage me, but it appears has became a dangerous inconvenience to the credulous multitude whose very pardonable ignorance of meteorology exposes them to a' arm. Allow me, sir, to again explain that wheft I speak of 'destructive inundations ' as likely to occur on or about the 6th October next, I only allude to extraordinary • high tides' and such * inundations' aB may possibly in some localities be tho result of excessive rains, or storms, in fact, from extreme atmospheric disturbances, I have not even in my lists made any mention of 17th Maroh, and never published or sanctioned the publication of any almanaos or books of any kind , in Australia, or other foreign places, whioh ' have so fraudulently borne my name. May I add that since the weather is acknowledged to have been thus far so unseasonable this summer, it is precisely what I have for months warned Kentish farmers and others, my neighbours, against upon every opportunity, expecting a " disturbed summer like that of 1860." Farmers will do well to expect especially unsettled weather about July 9 to 12, and August 7 to 11, and September 6to 10. They and the publio will be able, from watching [those periods, to estimate beforehand what oredence may be given to my special and earnest warnings against October sto 7, and November 1 to 3. — 2 have the honour to be, sir, your obedient servant, S. M. Saxby. Favershnm, June 10. (Extract from the Hawke's Bay, New Zealand, Herald, of March 26, 1869. The Coming Deluge— " According to the Evening Star, a number of silly people in Hokitika have made preparations for removiag to the Gaol Hill for safety, in anticipation of a huge tidal wave, which it is said Mr Saxby has predicted, will, on the 17th inst, submerge all the Middle Island of New Zealand, to within, twelve feet of the highest peak of Mount Cook."