BY HON. \V. K. TAYLOR, M.D. XXV 



or indifference. The average Britisher can adapt himself to 



almost any climate if he only takes the trouble to do so in a 



rational manner, and not act in defiance of natural conditions, 



as is too often the case. But we are to consider what our climate 



is like, and what effect it is hkely to have on those who come 



after us. 



TEMPERATURE AND RAINFALL. 



Extending from York Peninsula to its southern boundary, 

 Queensland embraces 18 degrees of latitude, viz., from the 11th 

 to the 29th parallel, so that the greater portion is north of the 

 Tropic of Capricorn, and consequently subject during half the 

 year to the direct rays of the sun. The climate, therefore, of this 

 portion, particularly along the coast, is tropical in every sense 

 of the term. Inland, however, owing to the elevation above the 

 sea, the climate is much less tropical in character, and towards 

 the south approaches the temperate zone in its conditions. To 

 the southward of the Tropic of Capricorn the climate of the coast 

 districts, although partaking of a tropical character in summer, 

 is cool and sometimes even cold for three or four months in the 

 year. 



The following, kindly furnished me by the Chief Weather 

 Bureau, is a comparison of the mean maximum, the mean 

 minimum, and the mean shade temperature of Brisbane, 

 Eockhampton, Townsville, Hughenden, Barcaldine, and Roma, 

 with the average annual rainfall, and number of wet days in 

 each year for some years past. Owing to the short time our 

 Weather Bureau has been established, the returns from some 

 of these places are not so complete as I should have wished for, 

 but such as they are they serve to illustrate plainly the general 

 character of those places and their districts. The climatic 

 conditions existing in Brisbane, Townsville, and Eockhampton, 

 will serve to show the nature of the coast climate, while those 

 obtaining at Hughenden, Barcaldine, and Eoma may be taken 

 as a fair example of the climate of the interior of Queensland, 



Brisbane. 



1. Mean maximum shade temperature for 8 years =77 "3 degs. 



2. ,, minimum ,, ,, ,, ,, =:59'4 ,, 



3. ,, shade ,, ,, ,, =68-4 ,, 



4. Total mean annual rainfall last 9 years =59*2 ins. 



5. ,, number of wet days per year for last 9 years = 154 



