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H.—3oa.

20

New South Wales.

South Australia.

Victoria.

APPENDIX No. 2.— (Vide paragraph 154.) The following extract from the Adelaide Meteorological Report for the month of May, 1879, was put in by Mr. Todd, and affords evidence of the easterly progressive motion of atmospheric disturbances :---- The mean barometer was about o'o6 inch to 007 below the average of the previous twenty-two years. It ranged high —or above 30 —during the first half of the month, or until the 17th, attaining a maximum (30-485) at Adelaide on the 9th ; and was below 30 from the 17th to the 29th, reaching a minimum (29-482) on the evening of the 20th, or 26358 at Cape Borda on the morning of the 21st. The high pressure prevailed over the centre of Australia till the 17th, and the records of other colonies, as well as ships' logs, show that this area of high pressure extended not only over the whole of Australia, but far to the westw-ard in the Indian Ocean, probably even to longitude 70° E., as vessels from the westward report high barometer, one stating that it stood as high as 30*400 for fourteen days during the first half of May. It was broken by a depression between the 10th and 12th at Eucla, where however, it was only slight, not going below 30'1 ; but more marked to the eastward, at Cape Northumberland, where the barometer fell from 30-45 on the 9th to 29'78 at midnight on the 12th and 13th; the depression was also slightly felt at Alice Springs, in the centre of the continent. The prominent barometrical feature of the month was the large depression, which commenced generally on the 15th, setting in from the westward. Thus Perth, on the west coast, reports a fall of about one-quarter of an inch between the 12th and 13th, but at Cape Borda the downward tendency did not commence till noon of the 15th, and Tasmania on the 16th. By ships' reports, the centre of this depression appears to have passed about 200 miles south of Cape Leuwin on the 19th. The minimum pressure at Perth occurred also on the 19th, 29381; Eucla, 29'34, at 3 p.m. on the 20th; Cape Borda, 29-358, at 3 a.m. on the 21st; Cape Northumberland, 29'401, at 3 p.m. on the same day; and Hobart, 29-05, about midnight on 21st and 22nd. It reached New Zealand on the 25th, the barometer at Auckland falling to 29497 ; Wellington, 29-290; and Dunedin, 29'293. On the south coast this depression was preceded by rains between the 13th and 14th, the wind being from the S. along the coast as far as Cape Otway, and S.E. and southerly with high seas to Cape Howe, to the north of which along the: east coast the winds were W and S.W., with a relatively low barometer, being four-tenths lower there than at Kangaroo Island. On the 15th the S.E. winds reached along the south coast from Wilson's Promontory to Kangaroo Island, with clouded skies, whilst at Eucla it was N.N.E. and overcast, under the influence of the advancing depression. On the east coast the winds were S. and S.E., the weather being generally clouded from Sydney round to Eucla, the barometer showing a rise of two-tenths at Cape Howe. On the 16th the wind was still from N.N.E. at Eucla, with falling barometer, but S.E. and easterly along south coast from Wilson's Promontory to Cape Borda, and southerly with heavy seas and rain on east coast; barometer steady then at Eucla. On the 17th wind still N.N.E. at Eucla, E. and S.E. along south coast from Cape Howe to Kangaroo Island, and southerly with high seas and falling barometer on east coast, accompanied with rain. On the 19th the wind was from N and N.E. in South Australia, and along the south coast to Melbourne; but on the east coast the general direction was westerly, with falling barometer and clear skies. On the 20th tho wind was N.N.E. from Eucla throughout South Australia to Cape Otway, and westerly on east coast, the sky being clouded in South Australia and Victoria, also in the interior of New South Wales and along east coast. The north winds are maintained on the south coast, veering to the N.W on the 22nd. Westerly through Bass's Straits and east coast on the 22nd and 23rd. In connection with the extended area of high pressure prevailing during the first half of the month, and the subsequent large depression, the progress of which we have just traced, it may be well to call attention to a cyclonic disturbance to the west and south of the Mauritius, reported by Mr. Meldrun, as it seems not improbable that the disturbance just referred to here originated iu the Indian Ocean, to the north of that island. 'I he following is extracted from the Monthly Notices of the Meteorological Society, Mauritius, 17th June, 1879, page 105: — " Barometric depression of 25th April to 10th May, 1879 : The mean height of the barometer on the 25th April was 30-103 inches, from which it gradually fell to 30-043 on the 29th. On the 30th April and Ist May it recovered a little, but in the evening of the Ist it began to go down again, and continued falling till the sth, on which day its mean height was 29'895. It then began to rise, and on the 10th was at 30'033. The highest reading (corrected and reduced) was I 0-146 at 9 a.m. on the 25th April, and the lowest, 29-862, at 3 p.m. on the 4th May.

Stations. Latitude. Longitude. Height above M.S.L. Port Darwin Daly Waters Alice Springs Port Augusta Adelaide Eucla Streaky Bay Daps Borda Eobe Deg. min. 12 28 16 18 23 41 32 30 34 57 31 45 32 50 35 45 37 10 37 50 38 5 35 16 34 32 Deg. miu. 130 51 133 25 133 37 137 45 138 35 128 58 134 12 136 35 139 42 140 50 140 40 138 55 138 57 Feet. 70 750 2,100 10 140 7 40 506 19 130 117 220 800 Mount Gtambier Oape Northumberland.. Strathalbyn... Kapunda

Eohuoa Sandhurst .. Omeo Ararat Upper Macedon Ballarat G-abo Island Melbourne Observatory Lakes entrance Portland Cape Schanck Port Albert... Cape Otway Wilson's Promontory... 36 7 36 47 37 6 37 18 37 23 37 34 37 35 37 50 37 52 38 20 38 28 38 39 38 54 39 8 144 48 144 17 147 36 142 58 144 35 143 49 149 55 144 59 148 1 141 35 144 53 146 41 143 31 146 26 314 758 2,108 1,050 3,000 1,438 50 91 37 277 10 270 300

Stations. Altitude in Feet. South Latitude. East Longitude. Clarence River Heads tnverell Walgett Bourke irmidale Grunnedah ... riim worth ... Doonabarabran Port Macquarie Dobar Menindie Newcastle ... Bathurst Forbes Mount Victoria Sydney Wentworth... Wollongong 120 1,953 456 3,278 925 1,271 53 112 2,200 1,120 3,490 155 144 67 Deg. min. 29 28 29 48 30 2 30 3 30 34 31 1 31 7 31 16 31 25 31 32 32 23 32 55 33 24 33 27 33 36 33 51 34 8 34 25 34 30 34 45 35 8 35 12 35 14 35 32 35 52 35 53 36 6 36 12 37 0 Deg. min. 153 21 159 10 148 0 145 58 151 46 150 15 150 55 149 18 152 54 145 50 142 26 152 50 149 37 148 5 150 15 151 12 142 0 150 56 144 56 149 45 147 24 150 45 150 20 145 2 148 32 150 6 147 0 149 9 149 59 Hay S-oulburn ... Wagga Wagga Dape St. George Milton Deniliquin ... Kiandra Moruya ilbury Dooma Eden 2,129 739 175 320 4,640 50 572 2,637 107

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