5
METEOROLOGICAL REPORT, 1876-1899.
To the Honourable the Colonial Secretary, Perth.
Sir,
I have the honour to transmit herewith a report on the weather and climate of Western Australia. Annual reports have been issued year by year since 1876, and the present volume comprises a selection and co-ordination of the principal facts which have been elicited during these last 24 years.
The need for a book dealing generally with the climate of this State is obvious, and I have had it in mind to issue one ever since my appointment. The pressure of other work, however, has prevented me from making rapid progress with its preparation, but it is now completed and will form a most fitting contribution to science from this Observatory as the first of the new century.
A considerable amount of labour has been entailed in checking and inspecting the old records. In a number of cases the observations were palpably erroneous, and these have been rejected.
This has caused many gaps in the records, but it was considered better to publish only those figures which were felt to be fairly reliable.
The resulting tables will now be found to represent with considerable accuracy the general meteorological features of the country, and will probably be consulted largely by farmers, pastoralists, bankers, doctors, immigrants, and all those whose interests are affected in one way or another by the climate of the country of their adoption.
I have, etc.,
W. ERNEST COOKE
Government Astronomer.31st January, 1901.
