History of the Meteorological Service in Sg & Msia By Mok Ly Yng.

Posted by shaun wong under National History
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Many thanks to Mok Ly Yng for sharing these interesting stories on the history of the Meteorological Service in Singapore and Malaysia with us. Originally posted to the Singapore Heritage Mailing List in conjunction with the World Meterological Day (23 Mar 2006) seminar and exhibition at the National Library:

The Meteorological Service was a Branch of the Survey Department of Malaya from 1927 until 1st Sept, 1946. The HQ office was on the 6th floor of the Fullerton Building in Singapore. This provided easy and convenient roof access for weather observations. The Survey Department of Singapore was located on the 5th floor of the same building. The coffee table book on the Fullerton Building did not mention this.

To provide a little historical background to the Meteorological Service in Singapore and Malaysia, I have attached a short history of the service here. This history was published as an appendix to the Survey Department’s Annual Report for the year 1938. It was in 1938 that the title of the head of the Meteorological Service was renamed from Superintendent to Director.

A brief chronological listing of the history can be found at the Malaysian Meteorological Department’s website.

Singapore’s Met Service website is here, but no historical accounts can be found.

Another bit of information. On 16th December 1938, Lieutenant Commander Hercules B.F. Moorhead, R.N. (retired) assumed duty as Director, Malayan Meteorological Service. He would lead the MMS into WWII. If you’ve read the book ‘Life and Death in Changi’ by Thomas Kitching (Chief Surveyor of Singapore during WWII), he mentioned a ‘Moorhead’ twice (pp 46, 50). This should be him.

The Meteorological Service was a Branch of the Survey Department of Malaya from 1927 until 1st Sept, 1946. The HQ office was on the 6th floor of the Fullerton Building in Singapore. This provided easy and convenient roof access for weather observations. The Survey Department of Singapore was located on the 5th floor of the same building. The coffee table book on the Fullerton Building did not mention this.

The Survey Department of Malaya was the ‘miscellaneous’ agency for the Colonial Government. At one time or another, they were the custodian of weights and measures, scientific instrument repairers, stamp printers (and even designers), low-denomintation currency note printers (and designers), and even acting Time-Ball observers (for the Marine Department). After the war in Singapore, the survey department here was put in charge of the Government’s Microfilming Unit! In other words, the Surveyor-General must deal with a range of seemingly disparate matters in his work.