COLONEL SYKESsaid, he wished to ask the Vice President of the Board of Trade, Whether any and what action has been taken to restore "Storm Warnings," consequent upon the Deputation of Members of Parliament to the President of the Board of Trade?
§ MR. STEPHEN CAVEreplied, that since the deputation the noble Duke (the Duke of Richmond) the President of the Board of Trade had communicated personally with General Sabine, the President of the Meteorological Committee. A letter had also been written asking whether it might not be possible for that Committee to meet that desire for some warning of apprehended danger from storms which had been so strongly urged. General Sabine had expressed his willingness to do so, as far as practicable, and the Committee now had the subject under consideration. It should be remembered that this Committee consisted of scientific gentlemen named by the Royal Society, at the request of the Government, as most competent to conduct these inquiries; they gave their time, labour, and talents gratuitously; they were appointed because a Government Department felt itself incompetent to deal with a purely scientific matter; they were responsible for the results of the expenditure sanctioned by Parliament, and it must be left to them to decide what could and what could not be done in the practical application of the present results of meteorological science.
COLONEL SYKESsaid, he wished to know, whether the Committee had expressed their willingness to undertake the; subject of Storm Warnings?
§ MR. STEPHEN CAVEreplied, that they were willing to do so as far as possible, and that the subject was now under their consideration.