WEATHER CLERK AS ’TEC

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXVI, Issue 18017, 4 November 1920, Page 3

WEATHER CLERK AS ’TEC

By T. DUNCAN BELL, Clerk of the Weather lor Fifty Years. (“Tit-Bits.”) Apart from his ordinary duties of forecasting and recording sunshine and shower, the Weather Clerk often aids the Law. Not infrequently during the hearing of a case the question arises as to what weather prevailed on a certain occasion. This usually means referring to the records of the Meteorological Office. In the case of Stinie Morrison, who was convicted of the famous “S” murder on Clapham Common, evidence was required as to whether a body dragged along the ground would leave track marks. The Weather Office was called upon to settle the point by determining if there had been rain immediately before the • crime, and the humidity of the atmosphere at the moment the murder was committed. I recall one case in which I was called upon to give evidence. A Wild West exhibition was being held in London, and among the attractions were some bronchos which were declared by one of the spectators to be too tightly girthed. He wrote a letter to a London newspaper, with the result that a libel action was brought against the journal for having published a statement which the proprietor of the exhibition alleged had a depreciative effect upon his takings. The plaintiff won the day, but only after a hard struggle, and the defence was* based upon the evidence of the Weather Clerk that there had been such inclement weather during the period in question that the drop in box-office receipts might well have been due to that cause alone. “RUSHING” HIS EMPLOYERS. Our aid is sometimes summoned in cases where damage has been caused by wind. A South London man was walking along a street when a sign-board fell on his head, injuring him seriously. He sued the owners of the sign for damages, but they denied responsibility, saying the accident was brought about by the wind, and was therefore “an act of God.” When, however, the records were examined it was found that the wind at the time of the accident was by no means of powerful intensity, and the defendants were obliged to pay up. Some time ago the manager of a large firm had his attention drawn to the numerous occasions on which a commercial traveller claimed expenses for cabs, owing, the latter said, to bad weather. The traveller’s little dodge was rudely unmasked when the manager obtained proof from the Weather Office that many of the alleged wet days were irreproachably fine, and that the commercial had simply been “rushing” his firm. The question of moonlight is often brought up, but the moon does not really come within the province of the Weather Clerk. Its habits may be studied from an almanac; and we have no statistics to show whether the moon was shining at a given moment as in the case of the sun. In this connection there is a story of a man accused of theft. “ saw the prisoner leaving the house at midnight,” said the policeman giving evidence. “I recognised his features in the moonlight.” “Are you sure there was a moon?” asked the prisoner’s solicitor. “Absolutely.” “Then.” said the other, triumphantly, “this man is not speaking the truth. There was no moon on that night!” And he produced an almanac to prove his point.