That this hot wind is not produced by the plains in New Zealand, is almost proved by the wind being as warm at the foot of the snowy range on the Canterbury Plain as at the coast. That the wind is derived from Australia is inferred from vessels sailing from New Zealand to Sydney having been kept back for days a long distance from the Australian coast by hot winds, and from the occasional, although rare, occurrence of a wind of about 70 degrees being experienced at Auckland and other places on the western coast of the North Island, when westerly winds, with fine weather, have been blowing for several successive days in summer. ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE. According to the observations recorded, the air exerts a greater pressure over the North Island than the Middle Island. The influence of the wind on the atmospheric pressure has been observed all round the coasts, the one locality depressing, in another, raising the barometer. The winds in New Zealand, unless of considerable force, are so modified by the shape of the islands that they are nothing but eddies from the greater polar and equatorial currents. Generally wind from the equator, which brings rain, depresses the thermometer, and southerly or polar winds, accompanied with fine weather, raise it. In the neighbourhood of high mountains, for example the Kaikoras, in the Middle Island, the barometer occasionally moves without any obvious atmospheric disturbance. (Drury.) OTHER ELEMENTS. During eleven years Mr. Stephens registered at Nelson 2 solar haloes, 20 lunar haloes, 5 extraordinary tides, and 55 earthquakes. Excepting the last phenomena the above may be taken as an average for the whole of New Zealand. The earthquake region in New Zealand comprehends a space of about 350 miles, or that portion of the country lying between White Island, latitude 37.30, and Bank's Peninsula, latitude 43-46, having Cook Strait for its centre. All the earthquakes registered since the arrival of the settlers have been slight save those of 1848 and 1855. The New Zealand atmosphere on the sea coast is not much disturbed by thunder storms, but in the neighbourhood of high mountains these phenomena are more frequent. At Nelson, on an average of eleven years, twelve thunderstorms occurred annually; and at New Plymouth, seven. Fogs are rare in the northern parts of New Zealand, but they increase in frequency and duration as we advance southwards. Hail storms occur. The Aurora Australis is occasionally seen from the Middle Island. Shooting stars are not so frequent as in England, and the heaven is rarely lit up with meteors of any brilliancy.-(Strezelecki's Physical History of New South Wales.) From the above Table it will be observed that in the North Island the mean annual temperature for Auckland is the highest (60-3 degrees), and that for Taranaki (56.8 degrees) the next, while Wellington is the lowest (55.7 degrees). In the South or Middle Island, Christchurch and Nelson show the highest annual mean temperature (55.1 degrees and 550 degrees), and Dunedin is very much lower, viz., 507 degrees. January and February, corresponding to July and August in England, are the two warmest months in New Zealand; and July and August, corresponding to December and January in England, the two coldest (excepting in Nelson and Wellington, at which places the mean readings are lowest for June and July). The climate of London is 7.2 degrees colder than that of the North Island, and 3.8 degrees colder than the Middle Island of New Zealand; and the difference between the mean annual temperature of the whole of New Zealand and that of London is 5-7 degrees, the former being 55-7 degrees and the latter 50 degrees. The following are the means for the two warmest and two coldest months in the year in the several localities, with their differences: Auck- Tara Welling- 69.6 53.1 degrees; at Rome it is 27 degrees, at Montpellier 33 degrees, at Milan 38 degrees, and at Jersey 22 degrees. The observations from these six Stations have been selected to form the above Table as they extend over a tolerably long period, and give a fair comparison of the climate of the North and South Islands. TABLE OF RAINFALL in the NORTH and MIDDLE Islands of NEW ZEALAND, compiled from the earliest Observations to 1867. The monthly averages for the amount of rain and the number of days of rainfall are only for eight years, while the mean annual fall and number of days are for the eleven years. NOTE.-From the above it will be observed that Taranaki has the highest average annual rainfall (58 584), and Nelson is the next (54 721), while the average means for Christchurch (31 636) and Dunedin (32 886) are the lowest; but while Dunedin has a much smaller annual fall of rain than the others, yet there are a greater number of days of rain yearly at that place than at any of the other Stations, and although the mean fall for Nelson is one of the highest averages, still the mean number of days of rain in that locality is the least of all. Taking these six Stations, the annual rainfall and number of days of rain is greater in the North than in the Middle Island. CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. The winter The climate of the Eastern and Western districts vary, but are both peculiarly healthy. and spring months are the most agreeable and pleasant. The summer heat is oppressive, but does not affect health. Lung diseases, and other affections common in cold climates, as well as fevers, and the liver diseases of hot climates, are very rare throughout S. Africa; a fever, however, of a low typhoid type, carried off several hundreds of inhabitants during the last few months in 1867. Neither Asiatic cholera nor Hydrophobia has been known in the colony. Even Measles and Small-pox only occur at intervals of many years. The range of the thermometer is considerably less than in England. The general temperature is much higher, but from the dryness of the atmosphere during the greatest heat, the degree indicated by the instrument is far beyond any personal discomfort or inconvenience caused. Exposure to the mid-day heat of summer is unpleasant but not dangerous. The nights are generally cool, and the cold of winter is only sufficient to be bracing, frost or snow being rare or unknown, except in very elevated tracts of country. About once in 4 or 5 years the drought may partially injure the crops. In some parts of the Eastern districts, and sometimes during wet seasons in the Western, the wheat is liable to rust, but on arable lands in favourable situations the soil usually yields excellent crops without much cultivation or care. Minimum in one month (May) 0.14 99 To the frequent winds may be attributed the noted salubrity of the Cape climate, particularly the absence of those fevers of the bilious remittent type which in many other countries are produced by marsh miasma or by continued calm hot weather. From observations made by the Royal Engineer department at Graham's Town, in the eastern_province, latitude 33° 18′ 10′′, and east of the Cape Town Observatory 7° 50′ 45′′, supposed to be 1,750 feet above the sea, during 16 months from September 1854, to December 1855, it appears that the mean temperature was about the same there as at Cape Town, viz.:— Cape Town Graham's Town 62.96 63.55 Antananarivo, ABSTRACT of the Mean Annual Results from the Meteorological Stations within the Colony, and from nooks that grain can be ripened, or European flowers brought to any degree of perfection. There are several beautiful flowers indigenous to the islands; but, with one or two exceptions, these all creep and blossom on the ground; and the only approach to a tree is the Falkland Islands box, a species of veronica, which grows to a height of perhaps three feet, and affords no protection either to man or beast. The natural conformation of the ground is good, but, owing to the want of timber, and to the sombre color of the grass, the general appearance of the country is extremely barren and desolate. In winter the weather is, happily, less boisterous than in summer. Were this not so, the cold from May to September would be almost unendurable." HONG KONG. In a Report dated in August 1845, the Go. vernor stated that he was not aware of a single death since the month of January previous, in the classes raised above soldiers, &c., or working men. Even the troops had been healthy up to that advanced period of the hot season, and the Governor felt certain that the disuse of groundfloor dwellings, and the observance of ordinary rules of precaution, would render Hong Kong as healthy as most other places in the world. The Colonial Secretary, in a report dated 9th November 1866, after confirming the above statement, adds:-"I consider this a remarkable climate for the tropics. The cool weather of Hong Kong, which lasts five months, is a great advantage; but it is not to be denied that the variation of temperature, after a lengthened residence, tells surely and severely on the European constitution." |