DEFORESTATION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 185, 4 February 1914, Page 5

DEFORESTATION.

DOES IT DIMINISH Till'. RAINFALL? By Telegraph—Press Assortat ion/ Auckland, Last Night. The suggestion that the destruction of forest growth in the country has had the effect of diminishing the rainfall, has, according to the Rev. 1). C. Bates, Dominion Meteorologist, been proved scientifically incorrect, anil his contention is supported 'by Mr. T. F. Cheeseman. curator of the local museum, and a well-known meteorologist, who said that the records showed just the same variation now as they did forty years ago. Diagrams also showed that there was 110 appreciable difference, in the rainin recent years. The effect of the rainfall on the country from which hush had been taken was, however, very different. The removal of forest growth which retained rain for a considerable, time meant that water now rushed into gullies and valleys and caused sudden freshes and floods. New Zealand's geographical'position, surrounded as it was by oceans of water, and the direction of prevailing winds, had more to do with the rainfall, in his opinion, than deforestation. Warm air retained more moisture than cold air. therefore, when the prevailing winds, which blow from east to west, or vice versa, and cross the islands at right angles, were forced upwards as they struck the mountain ranges in the centre of the islands, the aii' currents, were cooled and discharged part of their moisture.