'Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society, from September 1850 to June 1852. Edited by the Secretary. Volume X.' [‎38] (59/458)

xxxviii REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON CHARTS.
Ritchie, Esquire 5 John Smith, Esquire j Venayekrao Jagonnathjee, Esquire ; Professor J,
Patton, and Dr. G. Buist, Secretaries.
The minutes of last meeting were read and approved of.—The following report from the
Committee on Charts was read, and, with the exception of the third clause, which was slightly
altered to the shape in which it now stands, approved of :—
REPORT to the President and Members of the Geographical Society, of the Com
mittee on Charts appointed 23rd January.
Your Committee having maturely considered the whole question committed to them, and
availed themselves of all the information on the subject of Wind and Current Charts within
their reach, resolved,—
1 st. That it would be eminently desirable, before the Manuscript Charts submitted to
them were sent to press, that they should be made as perfect as possible on the same general
plan as that on which they have been constructed: and that as many additional tracks as
could be procured without any undue amount of delay should be projected on them.
2nd. That the best mode of doing this appeared to be to prepare and print lists of queries,
to be distributed amongst Commanders of Merchant Vessels, and others likely to contribute
such information as might be desired, with Schedules, to be filled up and returned by them
to the Society, from which further tracks might be laid down on the Charts.
3 rd. That the Committee, having no funds at their disposal, shall be allowed to draw on
the ordinary funds of the Society,—-replacing this , if deemed desirable, from the funds pro
vided for the publication of the Charts, should they come to be published.
(Signed) S. Lushington ; J. C. Hawkins ; J. Smith j John Ritchie ; Geo. Buist; Joseph Patton.
Bombay, 19th March, 1851.
The following resolutions were then brought-forward, and unanimously agreed to
“1.—That Government be applied to for permission to bestow the balance, should any remain,
of the Rs. 3000 granted by them in 1848 for the publication of the Meteorological and Tidal
Observations made under the auspices of the Society, to that of the Observations forwarded to
the Society by the Bombay, Madras, and Bengal Governments,—all of them bearing on the
same general subject.
« { 2.—That Government be applied to to meet the charges of setting up and putting to work at
Poona, Mahabuleshwar, Ahmednuggur, or such other situations as might seem desirable, the
Wind-Gauges just returned from Aden, where they were no longer required, and that received
from the Observatory, formerly in the possession of the Madras Government,^these being
public property ,”
In reference to the first, it was explained that the form in which the Tidal Observations were
proposed to be published, differed so materially from that on which the estimate was prepared
when Government were applied to for the grant promised them, that on this alone above Rs.
1000 would be saved ; that the Bombay Tidal observations, then expected to fall on the grant,
had been published in the Observatory Report 5 while the Kurrachee, Porebunder and Vingorla
Observations required yet to be made. The Bombay Government had meanwhile furnished the
Society with a very valuable collection of Observations, and a large collection had been received
from Madras and Bengal; and in proposing that the Government grant be employed in the
publication of these, all that was asked was that an unabsorbed balance should be transferred,
from one division of a general scheme to another.
The instruments referred to were all the property of Government, and the Society were pre
pared to see to the use made of them, and to the publication of the observations—but their funds
did not allow of more. An altitude and azimuth circle belonging to the Observatory with