GENERAL CONDITIONS IN NEW ZEALAND 51 
(e€) Winds—The greatest disadvantage which our 
wheat producing area suffers in respect of climatic 
conditions is the prevalence of very strong winds coming 
from the West Coast. They bring plentiful supplies 
of moisture; but this is deposited before they cross the 
Mountain Ranges, after which they blow with the 
strength of a gale, at times, across the Canterbury 
Plains as hot dry winds commonly known as the ‘‘Nor’ 
Westers.’’ Their strength, however, is now much abated 
by the growth of plantations over the country. and it 
is only occasionally that they do any very serious damage 
to the crops. At Lincoln, which occupies a fairly central 
position in the area of these winds, the average velocity 
of the wind per day, over 13 years, was 135 miles, while 
the maximum velocity registered in any one day wag 
693 miles. 
But the very causes which are responsible for these 
winds are themselves highly beneficial to the agricultural 
community of the area over which the winds blow. The 
nor’ wester of Canterbury is a continuation of a wind 
which blows across the Tasman Sea, and reaches the 
West Coast of New Zealand laden with moisture. 
Fortunately for Canterbury the Southern Alps intervene 
and cause the wind to deposit its moisture on the slopes 
of the mountains, after which it comes across the plains 
as a hot dry wind. Were it not for these intervening 
mountains wheat production in Canterbury and Otago 
would be almost non-existent, on account of the increased 
rainfall which would result. 
The nor’ wester is further beneficial to wheat pro- 
duction on account of the influence it exerts during the 
ripening period, because it is then that it is at its 
maximum frequency and velocity. It is doubtful, how- 
ever, whether this beneficial influence is not off set by 
the detrimental effects that wind has in ‘‘shaking out’’ 
the crops.* 
*This wind is also of extreme importance in the pastoral 
industry, as it largely accounts for the character of the dry 
pasture which produces a high quality mutton. 
