Abstract
AT the monthly meeting of the Royal Meteorological Society, held on February 18, Capt. C. J. P. Cave brought forward a paper on “The Status of a Meteorological Office and its Relation to the. State and to the Public.” It was pointed out that a Meteorological Office is a practical necessity, and, since to be at all efficient it must be subsidised from public funds, it has to be under some Government Department. The work of a Meteorological Office is, however, very wide, and concerns, not one, but almost every Government Department; and if it is to be under one without adequate safeguards, there is a great danger that many important sides of meteorology will be neglected. Safeguards are that the Director of the Meteorological Office should be directly under the Minister of the Department concerned, and on no account under other permanent officials, and that the Meteorological Office should have its separate vote and account in the Estimates. Hitherto the expenses have been controlled by the Meteorological Committee, a body on which several Government Departments as well as the Royal Society are represented; there seems to be no reason why this arrangement should not be continued. The work of the Meteorological Office concerns not only Government Departments, but also such bodies as county councils, municipal bodies, organisers of engineering undertakings, and the general public; and probably none of these know how great a use may be made of meteorological information.
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The Position of the Meteorological Office . Nature 104, 705–706 (1920). https://doi.org/10.1038/104705b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/104705b0