Cockayne. — Plant Geography of the Waimakariri. 105 



The length of time which the snow Hes on the ground and 

 its depth, the shelter or exposure experienced by plants, earth 

 and water temperatures, amount of radiation from differently 

 coloured soils or leaves, these and many more particulars 

 which could be suggested are not to be learned from existing 

 meteorological reports, which treat, of course, only of strictly 

 atmospheric phenomena. My own notes furnish a few details 

 on some of these or similar matters, and will be quoted in due 

 course, but they are, unfortunately, both meagre and dis- 

 connected. Notwithstanding what has been said above, the 

 New Zealand meteorological reports furnish us with some 

 valuable information, much of which is given in an admirable 

 condensed form by Sir J. Hector.* 



Firstly, as to Bainfall. — The average yearly rainfall from 

 1864 to 1893 inclusive is — Christchurch, 25-10 iu. ; Hokitika, 

 119-91 in. The greatest rainfall for any part of the Wai- 

 makariri district which I can find recorded is Bealey, 1878, 

 155-891 in. in 207 days, while Hokitika for the same year 

 registered 151-446 in. in 259 days, and Christchurch during 

 that year the lowest recorded up till 1893 — viz., 13-540 in. in 

 104 days. Taking Lincoln for the years 1890, 1891, 1892, 

 1893, the rainfall and the number of days on which rain fell 

 was— 14-836 in., 104 days; 20-575 in., 98 days; 27-883 in., 

 124 days; 22-05 in., 115 days. At Bealey, for the eleven 

 years ■ previous to 1879, the rainfall and rainy days was 

 103-767 in., 174 days; at Hokitika during the thirteen years 

 previous to 1879 it was 119-047 in., 193 days; and at Christ- 

 church during the fifteen years previous to 1879 it was 

 24-907 in., 117 days. The following extract frona Hector's 

 paper {loc. cit., p. 428) is of interest : — 



Review of the Proportions of Rain in New Zeal.\nd. — Percentage 



of Rainfall for Winter, Spring, Summer, and Autumn respectively. 



Hokitika . . . . . . 24 28 28 20 



Bealey .. .. ..22 28 31 18 



Christchurch . . . . 31 21 25 23 



From the above statistics it may be seen that there falls 

 nearly five times as much rain on the western side of that part 

 of the-Island under consideration as falls on the eastern, and 

 that Bealey is well within the region of the western rains. 

 There are also almost twice as many days on which rain falls 

 at Hokitika as at Christchurch, while, if the average amount of 

 rain be considered which must fall upon each of these days, 

 the difference as to climate will appear still more marked. 



The proportions of rain as quoted for each season show a 

 remarkable equality, still it is plainly evident that the driest 



I 



* "Climate, Temperature, and Rainfall," New Zealand Official Year- 

 book, 1894, p. 428. 



