Early China Coast Meteorology: The Role of Hong Kong

8 A New Age

8 A New Age The friction that used to exist between Hongkong and the neighbouring Observatories can cease now … the present Observatory staff will [not] sacrifice the public interest to a stupid feud that has now become traditional.1 Figg Takes the Helm Whatever the circumstances under which Doberck departed, he did attempt to have his legacy secured in the Observatory by lobbying strongly for Figg to be appointed as his successor. With Plummer the nominally senior staff in situ, but to some extent not persona grata, it was always on the cards that someone would be brought in from outside in order to resolve the dichotomy. On 30 January 1907 Doberck submitted a memorandum to the government advising them of the qualifications required in his successor and strongly endorsed Figg for the position. He wrote: ‘As the appointment will eventually be made by the Secretary of State with the assistance of the Astronomer Royal, should Mr. Figg be recommended for the post his claims on this particular point [Figg’s expertise in typhoon meteorology] will need to be strongly insisted upon by his Excellency the Governor, as there is a chance that the Scientific Authorities at home will select a candidate who is engaged in a different line of research’.2 In forwarding the qualifications for a new director to London, Governor Nathan favoured the director’s suggestion, pointing out that Plummer was already sixtytwo years of age, less than three years from the compulsory retirement age.3 The Colonial Office, without, apparently, bothering to consult the astronomer royal, agreed to appoint Figg4 — a just reward for a quarter century of diligent and loyal service. The only known photograph of him is shown in Fig. 20. Although he had negligible experience in meteorology when he first set out for Hong Kong, Figg eventually became resident forecaster in the Observatory. MacKeown_08_ch08.indd 207 25/11/2010 9:31 AM 208 Early China Coast Meteorology Doberck cites him as such in an article he wrote on weather forecasting in Hong Kong in Monthly Weather Review in 1899, and quotes his opinions on several topics.5 Of all the personalities involved in the early days of the Hong Kong Observatory, none comes out of it with greater credit than Figg. There was thus essential continuity in the operations of the Observatory following Doberck’s departure. Doberck made no effort to have his sister take over Figg’s position as first assistant in the event of his promotion. It was not that Anna lacked the necessary qualifications. She had been fifteen years in the Observatory, and had acted as first assistant for all of two years in 1903/05. But the possible perception of nepotism, not to mention the eyebrows that would be raised by having a female officer in the department (as well as the undivided attention necessary in his promotion of Figg as his successor, already noted), probably dissuaded him from espousing her case. Figg’s replacement as first assistant was one C. W. Jeffries from the Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope, who took up appointment in October 1907. Fig. 20. Frederic George Figg. Courtesy of the Hong Kong Observatory of the HKSAR. MacKeown_08_ch08.indd 208 25/11/2010 9:31 AM A New Age 209 A New Era of Harmony and Cooperation Under its new director the Observatory as a government department ‘came in from the cold’, and a somewhat warmer relationship was established with the community — evidenced early by the presence of Figg, and Plummer, at a levee held at the Government House by the new governor Sir Frederick Lugard, in August 1907. The newly arrived governor was keen to establish for himself the situation at the Observatory after Doberck’s departure, and quickly arranged to meet the new director. Speaking to the Estimates for 1908 in the Legislative Council, he said: I can assure you … that full advantage has been and is now being taken of the results derived from other observatories, especially Sicawei and Manila. Whatever difference of opinion may have occurred on certain controversial points, the fact remains that the observatories are in daily communication with our own, that telegraphic communication has never been interrupted, and that the news which has thus been made available has been fully utilized and has been embodied in the warnings given by our Observatory. This would seem to show a certain naivety on Lugard’s part, for...