73 



LAW OF WEATHER AND STORMS. 

 By the Right Rev. Bishop Bromby, D.D. 

 [Bead on Monday, V^th Octoler, 1873.] 

 Great progress has been made of late years in ascertaining 

 the limits and directions of winds, the result of widely - 

 extended observations at sea and on land, which have been 

 collected and reduced by Meteorological Societies in England. 

 The first duty of those who wish to aid the labours of 

 such societies (and few objects can be more philanthropic), is to 

 register the readings of the barometer and the wind-force, and 

 the direction of such force. What is next wanted is to 

 examine and compare these phenomena, and draw practical 

 inferences from them, for both farming and shipping interests. 

 I am glad to find that not only Dr. Hall, in the interests of 

 vital statistics, but our Curator has for some time past 

 registered some portion at least of these important statistics, 

 but not all that is necessary. A hasty glance at these 

 statistics confirms, and a comparison with those of Sydney 

 and Melbourne goes still further to confirm, a general 

 principle. Examining the observations made at Melbourne 

 for eight years, I find the prevailing wind from October to 

 March, i.e., during the summer months, is southerly ; from 

 April to September, northerly. Now, this statement is but 

 another form of saying that the Australian coast is subject to 

 a prevailing alternation of land and sea breezes, with this 

 peculiarity, however, that instead of being day winds and 

 night winds, they are summer winds and winter winds. When 

 the continent to the north is over-heated during the summer 

 months there is a prevailing indraught from the sea; and 

 during the winter there is a prevailing return wind from the 

 land. If I go to Sydney, which is on the east coast, the 

 other conditions being the same, I should expect sea and land 

 breezes, of the same duration, and when I examine the 

 statistics, I find W. wind from April to September, E. from 

 October to March, calculated upon the average of six years* 

 observation. To compare Tasmania, it must be borne 

 in mind that observations made at Hobart Town are 

 liable to mislead the observer. The proximity of our 

 mountain range will cause a deflection of most winds in 

 the direction of the chain. Captains of our ships know that 

 the wind in our harbour will be no security for the wind's 

 direction down the Channel or at Cape Pillar. The true 

 wind blowing on the higher eminences must be distinguished 

 from the surface winds of the valley. Tasmania lies upon the 

 northern edge of the great world- circling west trade-wind. 

 In the summer months when our land is heated (to say 



