Description | In reply to the Secretary's letter of the 9th, enquiring if the services of one of H M Ships can be spared to assist a scientific expedition which it is proposed to despatch from Sydney for the purposes of boring a coral reef; MacGregor is commanded by the Lords Commissioners of Admiralty to inform the Secretary of the Royal Society that they will be ready, at a later period in the year, to consider the possibility of permitting one of Her Majesty's Surveying ships in Australian waters to be detailed for this service.
The Lords Commissioners are unable to assent to one of H M Ships being employed in the central Pacific for the purpose named, at the time of year mentioned, as that is the period of hurricanes and unhealthy rains and it is only in case of urgent necessity that ships are retained in that region at that time.
Should it be possible to afford the aid requested during the fine season from May to November in 1898 or 18999, a suitable atoll other than Funafuti should be selected in order that the ship detailed could use the opportunity to make hydrographical surveys, which are now complete so far as Funafuti is concerned. |