H.—ls

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.\ communication was received from the V 7 ice-Admiral iji command of the Australian Station stating that the position of the Three Kings was wrongly charted, and thai the position of the South Point, Great Island, as ascertained by sight* from 11. M.5. "Cambrian" was latitude 34° II 18" S.. longitude 172° 7' 24" E., and the relative bearing From Cape Reinga of South Point. Great Island. X. (in 0 \V. true ■'!I miles. Ihe oharted position is latitude 34° 9' S.. longitude 1720 g' g" c., and the bearing from Cape Iteinga N. W. 31 - 8 miles. A further communication has been recently received from the Nice-Admiral stating that the "Cambrian lias taken further observations from mi shore in order to check with greater accuracy the position of the islands, and that the result of tiiese observations places the position of the depot on Great Island, the place of observation, as latitude 34° 9' II" S., and longitude 172° 0' J" E. 'Ihis places Great Island about one mile and a quarter south and a third of a mile east of the present charted position. The coastal buoys anil beacons have been overhauled and painted, the work being done by the " Hinemoa " in tin , course of her periodical trips round the Dominion. Nautical Publications.—The Nautical Almanac for 1911, winch is prepared by Captain Blackburne, Nautical Adviser to the Department, was issued in November last. and. as in former years, it found a ready sale. Copies of Ihe Azimuth Reduction Tables and Azimuth Chart books, published by the . Department, were supplied to the "Terra Nova " before she sailed for the Antarctic with the exploring expedition. Arrangements have been made for Messrs. .1. lirown and Son. of Glasgow, publishers of the well-known Nautical Almanac, to be the sole air-nts in Great Britain for the sale of the Azimuth Tables issued by the Department. Appended is a return of the Notices id Manners regarding the Dominion which have been issued by the Department during the year. Besides these a great many notices concerning matters outside New Zealand are published lor the information of mariners. Meteorological and Weather Office. —Daily weather-forecasts are telegraphed to LOS places, and 111 places receive occasional forecasts of storms. Arrangements are also made tor sending special warnings from time to time to persons requiring them lor particular purposes, the recipients paying the cost of transmission. Rotorua has been added to the list of places receiving regular forecasts, and requests for such forecasts have been made b\ several other places, but owing to want of funds they could not be acceded to. The Meteorological Office has collated all the rainfall returns available so far as is known from the earliest days until the end of 1909, and from the means obtained constructed approximate mean annual and monthly rainfall maps for the Dominion. I hese are now almost ready for the printer, as also are the collected returns for 1910, and a rainfall map for the same year. The monthly rainfall and climatological statistics are published regularly in the Government Gazette, and reports on weather and agriculture are supplied by arrangement to the Agricultural Department for publication in the Agricultural Journal each month. The annual statistics are published in connection with the Registrar-General's Department in the blue-book and in the ( itlicial Veai I k. During the past year there has been a slight extension of the nmk of the office ill securing more rainfall stations. This is a very important matter on account of close)- settlement and the advent of liydro-electric power schemes. The visit of the British Antarctic Expedition impressed upon Australasian meteorologists the importance of meteorological observatories and the standardization of the instruments; inspec tion of all the chief stations and establishment of others were urged upon the Government. Sums i.i money were placed upon the supplementary estimates for these purposes, but the time between which the liione\ was available and Ihe end of the financial veal", as well as the sinallness of the staff, did not allow its proper expenditure, anil these projects are still incomplete. Through stress of weather the Antarctic vessel "Terra Nova " was unable to establish a station at Camp bell Island, for which instruments were provided, Inn the station at Chatham Islands has been reorganized under Mr. I , '. A. 1). Cos since the death of Mr. A. Shand, who perished in a tire wherein some instruments and records of the office were also lost. Mr. Shand for many years had done most valuable work al the Chathams as a meteorological observer. In the lattei end of February Mr. D. C. Hates. Director of the Meteorological Office, inspected Several of the chief stations and weather-repoi t ing observatories around the South Island. His visit showed the need of new and reliable instruments .it many stations '..'/.. at both Christchurch and Dunedin, where aneroid barometers were in use for weather reporting purposes, and al several places the therniometers were quite unreliable. At Dunedin a new observatory as well as a new set of instruments are urgently required. The meteorological observatory has been in charge of Mr. If. Ske\ eince 1870. It was established first in Dunedin. but the City Council resumed the land, ami Mr. Skey had to remove the instruments to his oWlt private residence al Woodhaugh. This action of the City Council was very detrimental, above all to their own interests. Meteorological observations are of great importance to the city, and in England arc the especial care of ihe civic authorities. The Auckland City Council have provided a suitable site in Albert Park, ami the Govern nietit last year fenced it in anil provided the instruments ami observer. \l Wellington the City Council proposes to lease at a small rental a site for an observatory on the Town Belt at the top of Constable Street. Though not central or well adapted for meteorological purposes, it is believed to be the best site available, and superior to the temporary observatory on Mount Conk. near the Alexandra Barracks. It is hoped that the new observatory will soon be equipped with a set of instruments by which automatic and continuous records may be taken of the chief meteorological elements —wind direction and force, rate and duration of rainfall. &o. The observatory will then be raised from a station of the second to one of the first order. i