CURRENT PAPERS. 147 



No. 406 put over May 1, found June 17; rate per day 127 miles 

 „ 431 „ June 30, „ Aug. 6; „ 11*5 „ 



„ 442 „ March 16, „ July 13; „ 5-9 „ 



These papers have reversed the usual direction and gone faster 

 to the north than the usual rate to the south, and it is shewn on 

 the charts that papers have this year been carried much farther 

 north along the Queensland coast than is usual. This is only a 

 part of the general increased rate of drift which is here shewn. 

 For instance, two papers floated near Cape Horn came over to 

 Australia at the rates of 122 and 9*5 miles respectively, with a 

 mean rate of 10-85 miles, which is 19% greater than previous 

 rates over this ocean. In the Indian Ocean the same feature is 

 manifest in 1899, the average drift was 15 2 miles per day, which 

 is 25J% greater than that previously measured. Again, between 

 the Crozets, the Australian Bight and New Zealand, the average 

 drift has been 7*9 miles, and in 1899 it has been 9*9 miles, or 25% 

 greater than it was before. 



But looking at the greatly increased rate of drift in the Southern 

 Ocean and Tasman Sea, there must I think have been a greater 

 velocity of wind, and as a consequence much greater strains upon 

 shipping, and probably some broken shafts may be traced to these 

 conditions. I know the number of steamers is increasing fast 

 and there is no doubt about the recent increased wind effects, but 

 few know how much faster the pressure of wind increases than its 

 velocity; thus, a wind blowing thirty miles per hour has a pressure 

 of 4J lbs. on the square foot, and if the velocity is doubled the 

 pressure is quadrupled, for a velocity of sixty miles per hour has 

 a pressure of 18 lbs. on the square foot. Certain it is, that the 

 amount of damage that has been done inland by winds — covering 

 up fences, tanks, etc., unquestionably proves the severity of wind 

 storms in 1899, compared with other years. 



It will be observed that the papers received during the past 

 year number one hundred and twenty-four, and are more evenly 

 distributed through the yeir than those in the two previous years 



