RAIN-MAKING IN THE SOUTH.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 194, 15 August 1907, Page 4

RAIN-MAKING IN THE SOUTH.

Perhaps the most extraordinary feature about the rain-making experiments | that are now taking place near Oamaru is that they should be necessary. It is a rather impressive but unwelcome tribute to the versatility of our climate that, while Auckland has already had its full season's share of rain, South Canterbury and North Otago are suffering acutely from drought, and the farmers round Oamaru have been driven to experiments in the artificial production of rain to meet their needs. As to their prospects of success in this instance, it is hardly safe to hazard a definite statement. But there is no doubt that, under favourable conditions, it is possible to produce rainstorms by artificial means. In the vine-growing districts of Austria and Italy a regular system, of "rain making" is in practice. More accurately, the vine-growers constantly protect the grapes from hail and rain by discharging a specially devised cannon at the clouds, and precipitating the storm at times and places convenient to themselves. In America similar experiments have been carried out by the United States Government, with considerable success, in the barren lands of the Far West. In Australia, though the experiments at Broken Hill four years ago were a failure, it has been proved beyond doubt that, under certain conditions, it is possible to precipitate rain by violent explosions, more especially when directed against heavy clouds. The commonly-observed facts that rain follows blasting operations or cannon firing, or even the passage of a heavy train through a saturated atmosphere, at least lend colour to the rain-making theory, and we cordially wish the good people of North Otago every success in their struggle against the unwonted niggardliness of nature.