JouK. Kov. So(’. Western Austrai^ia, Xol. Xil. 
REPORT OF “SALINITY IN SOILS ’ COMMITTEE TO 
30th JUNE, 1926. 
Two meetings of the Committee ha\'e been held sinec* the 
last Re])ort, the second minding being on the 1^4tli instant. 
Tlie work during tlie i>ast yeai' has consisted cliietly in I'an-y- 
ing oj] the iin'estigatioiis on the salinity of raiji. The results 
ii|t to March, 1926, when the analyses for the first period of 
twel\'i‘ months wm-e conijileted, were disaiitmint i ng for the rimsoii 
tliat the wintei’ season of 1925 was exceptionally dry in most 
districts, and that storms weri‘ usually weak and the routes 
they travelled not well defined. 
The Committee therefore decided at its meeting on March 
5th, 1926, to continue the tests for another twidvi' months, in 
the hope of obtaining a inoi-e reliable set of data. {Shoidly after- 
wards a letter dated March Sth, 1926, was received from the 
Commonwealth Aleteorologist conveying the same conclusions, 
and asking the Committee to continue the Chlorini- Survey in 
Westeni Australia for another tweh'e months. The letter men- 
tioned further that out of apjiroximately 600 analyses of rain 
received during the preci'ding twelve months over fifty [>er cent, 
were from the five capital cities and Darwin, leaving tlii* other 
twenty-five recording stations with less than ten recoj-ds each. 
Also in very few cases did observations at mdghbouring stations 
synchronise. 
The data are therefori‘ as yet insutlicient to justify definiti' 
conclusions, but from such as are availal)le tin* following pro- 
visional deductions may be drawn: 
1 The variability of the salt content in rain collected at 
different localities is inarked, but this variability is much 
more pronounced near the sea coast than inland. 
2 The salt content is Jiiuch greater in rain collected niuir 
the coast than in that collected inland. 
■) In i-ain collected at Perth the salt content incri-ases as the 
wind veers from north-west through west to south-west. 
A Sub-Committee has beeji appointed to examijie data re- 
lating to the salt content of rain, and it is lioju'd that by coni- 
l)aihjig the estimations of chlorine with the records of the Weather 
Bureau it will be possible to determine the nature of the storms 
that bring most salt on to the land in Western Australia, their 
frequency, and the area traversed. 
