WEST COAST CLIMATE

Hokitika Guardian, 21 March 1927, Page 1

WEST COAST CLIMATE

(Lyttelton '‘Times.”). The climate of the West Coast ol this island is terribly maligned. . Whenever a westerly low-pressure happens along it brings a downpour : along the coast, while simultaneously Canterbury is parched by the type > cal nor’-wester, and of course the I westerly rains are generally heavy. But to hear people who know nothing about the Const talk of the conditions one might'-imagine that the whole country beyond the Alps is a! v, ayflooded*. Silly jokes about the children being web-footed are perpetrated even in the Arbitration Court. This sort of loose gossip creates an impression that is not at all just to Westland, and while we enjoy a joke we like it to be the kind of joke that does no harm. Relatively the climate of the Coast is wet, because the annual rainfall is heavy, hut the impression that it is always raining in Hokitika and Gvermouth is altogether wrong. There ’ are as many wet days in Auckland and Invercargill ns there are in Hokitika, and in our experience a wet day in Auckland or Invercargill is a good deal more depressing than is a wet day on the Const, A good honest downpour is infinitely better from the worker’s point of view than is the steamy summer rain ol Auckland or the persistent cold drizzle of the southern districts. Records taken over a period of hall a century show that rain falls on an average of rather more than fifteen days in each month in Hokitika, Auckland and Invercargill, 14,7 days in Wellington, 13.3 days in Dunedin, and 10 days in Canterbury. But Hokitika makes up_for its wet days hy providing clear skies and glorious sunshine on the other days. There is not a month in the year in which Hokitika does not enjoy more sunshine than Dunedin and Invercargill do. Hokitika, indeed, sees just as much of the sun as does Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, for the AVest Coast, in spite or its heavy rains, is a. very sunny land. Moreover, the climate is equable. The winter months are as warm as they are in Nelson, and there is a very marked absence of extremes of heat and cold. Jn many respect, indeed, Westland’ has the most pleasant climate in the Dominion. 11 assuredly has the clearest atmosphere. It is desirable that these facts should be widely known, because the false impression created in regard to the climate of the Coast undoubtedly has deterred many people from even inquiring into its possibilities from the point of view of the farmer. As a matter of fact,' men looking about them for farms rarely give the AVest Coast n thought, and the neglect is due solely to the uttcly false impression that has been created concerning its climate.