516 



Transnctions. — Miscellaneous. 



These are a few examples selected to show that there is a 

 high probability of lost consonants being capable of being re- 

 placeable in Maori. Of course, there is a possibility that con- 

 sonants may be excrescent (i.e., for instance, that ai may be 

 the true form of the word for neck, and the ^'s of kaki an 

 aftergrowth) ; but this is very unlikely, because it is hard to 

 suppose that many dialects in introducing consonants would 

 have chanced upon the same consonant in almost every in- 

 stance ; the loss is far more probable than the gain. But 

 enough has been shown to prove it unlikely that the Maori is 

 quite the primitive, simple, virgin language which some have 

 supposed it to be. 



Art. LXIII. — The Bainfall of New Zealand. 



By John T. Meeson, B.A. 



[Read before the Philosophical Society of Canterbury, 7th May and 

 5th June, 1S90.] 



Plate XLV. 

 Part I. The Amount and Distribution of Eain. 

 For the past twelve months or so we in New Zealand have 

 been suffering from a spell of dry weather almost throughout 

 the length and breadth of the colony. We cannot call it a 

 drouglit, for that term would be altogether too strong. But 

 the rainfall has been considerably below the average almost 

 everywhere, and in some cases, as will appear when the 

 statistics are published, remarkably so, a deliciency of over 

 25 per cent, being not infrequently recorded. The selection, 

 therefore, for oiu- consideration to-night, of such a subject as 

 our rainfall would seem not inappropriate. For, when a little 



