SECOND EDITION Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1874.] TUESDAY, AUGUST 21, 1894. OUR RAINFALL.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4805, 21 August 1894, Page 2

SECOND EDITION Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1874.] TUESDAY, AUGUST 21, 1894. OUR RAINFALL.

. Hit S, Mawley Ims'placed lit pur disposal a rain record extending over a period of fourteen years, which admirably illustrates tlio vagaries of our capricious climate., The avcr- _ ages are all that can he wished for, [ but tlio distribution of the fall from ycarto year and from month to month is somewhat perplexing. From the Dittou chart we observe that the averago rainfall, from 1881 to 1893, is 50'38 inches, a very comfortable allowance, but the way it jumps up and down during the series is somewhat disconcerting. It starts witli 42 inches and works up in 1884 to 59 inches and then when people had become accustomed to humidity it came down at ouo swoop in 1885 to43iuches. Up it went again in the two following years to 61 inches and then bounced down to 45 iuches in 1888, and struck a bedrock at 36 inches in 1889. Lying low during 1890andl891.it sprung up to 54 incites in 1892 and last year it topped the scale again at 61 inches, The indications so far this year favour ■ a big drop from last year, but then our rainfall is as uncertain as a financial surplus and we may expect anything from 36 inches up to sixty.oiio, Looking at tlio seasons we find tho : summer averago is 8§ inches, the winter averago 16| 1 inches, the spring 12f, and the autumn 12} inches, These averages are reasonable enough, but if we study any particular season we are apt to find it a little wayward, Last summer, for example, was 12 inches instead of S| inches and in 1884 a spring of 18 inches was followed in 1885 by one of 7inches; in 1882 a winter of 24 inches preceded in 1883 a winter of 12 inches, and autumns have varied from 6 to 20 inches, the latter being our allowance last year. If wo try to get a tip from monthly returns the confusion gets worse confounded, 'JannavyransfromO'lSup 4'43 inches, February from 0'64 to 6'60 inches, March from o'9otolo'l4 inches, the latter beingthe Noachian record pi last year, April from o'7o to 5'3.5 inches; May fyoni 1'59 to J.1'62 -inches, Juno''from 2'oß to inches, ' August' frpm 1'8,5 to l|o/4jj inches, September from I'3§ tfl l'ls inches, October from 0-70 to o'o§ inches, November from I'9B to. 9'04 inches, and December from 0'46 to 4'68 inches. In bur. rainfall we are always breaking- records, and the unexpected is always happoninprid i prophesying is always fallacious,be- ' cau'so biir prophets heyer know I Onr Jot is phe.oi ylcißsitudfs", ajiictw'e'h.avo to take our rain when it comes,' the only solid basis being perhaps~an aveWe annual fall jn fourteen years of Swdnohw,'■'.;;;' '■:.;■ " J

A man who lias mixed freely, lyitli the unemployed tells us that; there are hundreds of them whVin undisi 1 guised terms menace the destruction of property. As long as station holders relieve their necessities they forbear froni illegal acts, but if this assistance were withheld they would at onco resort to them, The destruction of Messrs Williams and Beetham's promises at Waingawa may have been accidental, but it also may liavo been the outcome: of this bitter feeling which exists at the present time to a greater extent than at any period in the history of the Colony. We do not desire to be alarmistsbutit is always wise to face a difficulty,, and at the present time ajery serious one may require to ho c»ped with. That the Goyernment ignore or underrate it, is abundantly evident from official utterances, but this only makes, the matter .worse. At the present time the stationholders are keepingbackan insurrection of hunger, while Parliament aud the Government are doing little or nothing to prevent it. .