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RefNoMS/547/6/4
LevelItem
TitleCopy letter from Gregory to A B Kempe
Date8 February 1902
DescriptionWritten from the University, Melbourne
Had hoped that Kempe was acting on the suggestion in the last paragraph of his previous letter, but he is very glad of Kempe's letter which he hopes Kempe will not mind him showing to the Government Astronomer, who was most considerate in the pendulum business.

States Murray's letter to Kempe suggested that Gregory regards Scott as to blame in the matter, which he certainly does not. He is afraid Sir Clements Markham's memory has failed him, in his recollection of Gregory having told him that the Melbourne pendulums were given up. The pendulums were made before Gregory arrived in England in December 1900, and he received there, the news that the instruments were being standardised, and would be ready for him to start practice with on his return in March. The statement moreover, in his article on Nature, which he imagines Sir Clements markham read before his annual address, shows that he had no idea of the Melbourne pendulums being abandoned.

Asks him not to trouble any mor about the matter, Kempe's letter will show the Observatory that the matter was due to a amisunderstanding that might readily have occurred in the haste of the expedition equipment.

Kempe's offer to consider the financial repayment of the loss, though it will be no more entertained than Gregory's own offer to recoup the amount, will, he is sure, remove any trace of the feeling, which certainly once existed, that the Observatory had been treated discourteously. Is sorry to hear of Murray's illnes, of which he had not heard before.
Extent1 page
FormatCarbon copy
AccessStatusOpen
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