568 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



they break here and there, down towards the extreme south of 

 the colony, and then pass on to the sonth-east or turn up the 

 east coast as south-west storms. Dr. Hann has calculated 

 the percentage of frequency of north-west weather in Hokitika 

 to be 23 in summer and 20 in spring, but very much less in 

 autumn and winter. Between the winter and summer solstices 

 of the Southern Hemisphere the path of the cyclones that 

 affect New Zealand will be found probably to change gra- 

 dually from south-west to north-west, and in the opposite 

 season of the year it will move again to the south-west. 



Such, apparently— j'.e., from the south-west and north-west 

 — are the main paths of the cyclones which produce our most 

 characteristic weather. But this presentment is only of the 

 general tendency as regards barometric pressure and the climate 

 that it produces ; and in our latitude, we must remember, ir- 

 regular barometric fluctuations are so conmion as to defy any 

 perfectly and universally accurate general statements. " Shift- 

 ing areas of high and low pressure " continuously cross and 

 sometimes recross our Islands, and the configuration of the 

 cotintry, its varying elevation, and the alternation of water- and 

 land-surfaces, interfere with the prevailing types of weather 

 and produce all kinds of unexpected local modifications. Into 

 a full and complete examination of these it would be impos- 

 sible on this occasion to enter. 



The msin difference between the rainfall of the two Islands 

 of New Zealand Hes in the fact that the North Island, being 

 almost subtropical, is subject, as aheady said, to the heavy 

 winter rains that accompany the descent of the return trades 

 between latitudes 30'' and '^O"" (Scott, p. 331), whereas the 

 South Island is in the zone of rain at all seasons, as pointed 

 out by Dr. Hann and Mr. Scott. Here rain therefore depends 

 on the in-egular succession of barometric depressions and anti- 

 cyclones, and these are most frequent on the west coast in 

 spring and early summer. Summer rains are more frequent 

 on the east side and in the interior; but these depend on 

 secondaries, which come in the most unexpected manner, 

 puzzle the weather prophet, and have verj- httle, if anything, 

 to do with the general character of the weather. 



The even distribution of rain throughout the year in most 

 parts is the grand feature of the New Zealand climate — the 

 cause of its constant verdure and great productivity. Local 

 circumstances, we repeat, modify the general weather con- 

 siderably : not so much local development of heat, for that 

 does not seem to be so important as is usually supposed, 

 though the flow of air from the hot equator to the poles is the 

 primary cause of cyclonic development ; but the geographical 

 features of a neighbourhood largely affect its chmate. For 

 example, Mount Egmont, in Taranaki, probably largely in- 



