§ SIR EDMUND LECHMEREasked the President of the Board of Trade, Whether it be true that Captain Charles Chapman, of the Merchant Service, is the inventor of the Weather Chart now in use by the Meteorological Office, and through that office by the "Times," the "Shipping and Mercantile Gazette," and other newspapers; and, if so, whether Captain Chapman is not entitled to a letter of thanks from the Department which avails itself daily of his invention; and, whether the Meteorological Office makes any charge for furnishing the information which appears in the Weather Charts, under various forms, in the newspapers?
§ SIR CHARLES ADDERLEYSir, Captain Chapman is not the inventor of the weather charts in the form in which they are now supplied by the newspapers. The Meteorological Office makes no charge for tables or paragraphs, but it makes a charge for charts sufficient, but not more than sufficient, to pay its own expenses. The Times pays £500 a-year for its morning edition, but there is no profit out of this to the Meteorological Committee. Captain Chapman introduced into The Shipping Gazette a chart in 1871.