TJie Rainfall of Victoria. 199 



reservoirs should be in as sheltered positions as possible, and 

 well planted on their margins. By increasing the number of 

 water stores the amount of evaporation will be considerably 

 lessened, in consequence of a greater humidity of the air. 

 For the same reasons I think it injurious that our inland 

 swamps should be di'ained, for although they may not, 

 except to a very small extent, benefit the country beyond 

 their immediate vicinity, they raise the dew point very 

 appreciably, more especially at night, over a considerable 

 area about them. 



The Table B appended gives the total annual rainfall for 

 Melbourne during twenty-five years, and for shorter periods 

 in other localities in the colony where r^Table observations 

 have been made. A few years record of the rain in Adelaide 

 and several localities m South Australia, is also added. The 

 diagram shows graphically the rainfall for Melbourne for the 

 period of twenty-five years, from 1840 to 1865. Table C 

 contains the comparison of the rainfall of Melbourne with 

 that at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. 



The desirability of securing a regular and systematic record 

 of the rainfall over the whole of settled Australia, must be 

 apparent to every practical or scientific man. Observations 

 are required from every area of 500 square miles At 

 present we have only ten localities in this colony where a 

 regular register of the rainfall is kept. 



No meteorological instrument is more simple in its con- 

 struction and use than a rain-guage, and while there is any 

 prospect of adding to our knowledge of Australian clima- 

 tology, by its more extended use, it should be as common in 

 the hands of our intelligent settlers as a barometer or 

 thermometer. 



