66 THE CLIMATE OF AUSTRALASIA 



method was as unsuitable for chemical research 

 as is the use of blind averages in meteorology. 

 The statements that you can prove anything 

 by statistics, and that there is nothing so 

 misleading as facts, is to some extent true of 

 weather statistics of Australia. A careful 

 selection of instances out of the Australian 

 weather records would give any desired result. 

 Owing to the oscillation between these coastal 

 and inland conditions, it is obvious that the 

 calculation of averages requires great judgment, 

 in seeing that the stations included are equally 

 distributed. Unfortunately Australian weather 

 statistics, except for the coastal regions, do not 

 date back for any considerable length of time ; 

 so they are not particularly useful in the 

 investigation of long period cycles. And the 

 study of Australian meteorology cannot advance 

 beyond a comparatively elementary stage, until 

 the weather records of Australasia be divided 

 amongst its natural meteorological provinces. 



CHAPTER IV. THE METEOROLOGICAL 

 PROVINCES OF AUSTRALASIA. 



Supan has divided Australia into four distinct 

 climatic provinces. Most of the subtropical 

 parts of northern Australia he includes in the 

 'Tndo- Australian Monsoon Province," which has 



