Name/Title

Letter [Edward Kidson to Alexander Don]

About this object

Letter; from Edward Kidson, Director of the Meteorological Branch of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research [DSIR] to Reverend Alexander Don, 'The Bungalow', Ophir, and dated 17 July 1933. The letter is typewritten, and is in regard to the study of types of cloud, including Reverend Don's reference to "mackerel sky". Alexander Don has written the reference number '223' and the date 19:7:1933 on the top left hand corner of the letter. Two holes are punched into the left-hand edge of the page for enclosure in a ringbinder.

Alexander Don was a Presbyterian minister and missionary, well known for his work with the Chinese gold miners of Central Otago in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Don retired to Ophir in 1923 where he kept meteorological records on behalf of the Met Office. This role was taken over by the postmistress on his death in 1934. The surviving correspondence between Don and the Met Office directors consists of comments on the unusual weather of Central Otago – from frosts and snow to electrical storms and auroral observations.

For more information about Ophir Post Office, which is cared for by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust Pouhere Taonga, visit our website.

Maker

Edward Kidson (1882-1939)

Maker Role

Author

Date Made

17 Jul 1933

Medium and Materials

paper

Measurements

32.2 x 21.5cm

Credit Line

Collection of Ophir Post Office, New Zealand Historic Places Trust Pouhere Taonga

Object Type

Letter

Object number

XOPO.452

Copyright Licence  

All rights reserved

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