1859 - Thomson, A. S. The Story of New Zealand [Vol.I] - Part I. The Country and its Native Inhabitants - CHAPTER II. CLIMATE.

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CHAP. II.

CLIMATE.

MEN live by air as much as by bread, therefore the nature of the atmosphere of New Zealand is an important consideration to all settlers, although few persons have an exact idea of the great influence air and temperature exert on the human frame.

New Zealand has been rendered famous by its climate, but like other things in this world, the climate has been injured by injudicious praise. It has been styled delightful and pleasant, terms which convey the idea of an atmosphere rarely disturbed by wind or rain, whereas there are few countries on the globe where wind and rain are so frequent and so uncertain; they are, indeed, for pleasure-seekers, the two great faults of the climate.

From Table I. 1, and other meteorological observations, the coast climate of New Zealand from Stewart's Island to the North Cape may be described as the most changeable in the world, and at the same time the most strictly temperate. For between these two points, including a space of 800 miles in latitude, calms, rain

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and winds, clouds and sunshine, and heat varying between 40 and 70 degrees of Fahrenheit's scale are occasionally experienced in twenty-four hours. This singularity of the coast climate is produced by the shape and mountainous character of a great part of the country, and the immense sea encircling the islands.

Much importance has been attached to the mean annual temperature of countries, and New Zealand, in consequence of conclusions from this source, has been said to possess an Italian climate. But there are marked points of difference between the seasons of New Zealand and Italy. Thus, in Italy there is a sort of summer winter when cattle must be provided for indoors as in winter, and during which for several hours of the day all out-door work is interrupted by heat. 2 There is no similar summer winter in New Zealand, and it is the opinion of persons who have sojourned in different parts of the world, that the Anglo-Saxon race can work and expose themselves to the climate of New Zealand without injury, during more days in the year, and for more hours in the day, than in any other country.

In examining the appended meteorological observations, it is requisite to remember that, with the exception of those for Kaikohe, all were made on the sea coast. Even from this solitary set of observations on one of the narrowest parts of the North Island, it may be inferred that the climate of the interior is warmer in summer and colder in winter than around the coast.

The mean annual temperature of the North Island is 57 deg., that of the Middle Island 52 deg.

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January and February, which months correspond to July and August in England, are the warmest months in New Zealand, and June and July, corresponding to December and January, are the coldest.

Rome, Montpellier, and Milan possess climates having nearly the same mean annual temperature as the North Island of New Zealand; and Jersey, one of the Channel Islands, in this respect resembles the Middle Island.

London is seven degrees colder than the North Island, and two degrees colder than the Middle Island.

In New Zealand the nights are about twelve degrees colder than the days.

The mean daily range of temperature is under twenty, and the extreme range is occasionally upwards of thirty degrees. Great variations of temperature are more common in the Middle Island than in the North.

The mean temperature of places in New Zealand is lower than that experienced in corresponding latitudes in Europe. Examples of this may be seen by comparing the mean annual temperature at Auckland with that at Gibraltar and Malta; that at Nelson and Wellington with Rome; that at Christchurch with Montpellier, and that at Otago with Milan. But the temperature in New Zealand is higher than that experienced in corresponding latitudes in America, as may be seen by comparing the mean temperature at Wellington and Nelson with that at New York, and the mean temperature at Otago with that at Quebec and Halifax in Nova Scotia.

No single locality in Europe has a temperature during the whole year like that experienced in New Zealand. The North Island, in short, possesses the summer heat, tempered with a sea breeze, of Paris, Brussels, and Am-

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sterdam, with the winter cold of Rome; while the Middle Island has a Jersey summer, and a winter in mildness resembling that at Montpellier.

The difference between the mean temperature of the coldest and warmest months in the year in New Zealand is about 20 degrees, at Rome it is 27, at Montpellier 33, at Milan 38, while New York and Quebec, placed in the same latitudes as Wellington and Otago, experience tropical heats in August and polar colds in January.

Snow seldom lies on the ground at the level of the sea in the North Island of New Zealand, and not very often in the Middle Island. But all round the year the summit of the highest mountain in the North Island, Ruapahu, 9000 feet above the level of the sea, and the great mountain chains in the Middle Island, are covered with snow. Ice is occasionally seen in winter from one extremity of New Zealand to the other, but frosts are comparatively slight to the north of Auckland, although the North Cape is occasionally covered with hoar frost.

An idea of the mildness of the temperature at Nelson and Canterbury in the Middle Island may be drawn from the fact of sheep frequently lambing in mid-winter with no greater loss than five or ten per cent.

During the summer months at Auckland the mean maximum temperature of the sun's rays is 101 deg. Fahr. On one cloudless calm day in February, on the banks of the Waikato river, in the interior of the North Island, a thermometer placed in the sun's rays on the ground rose to 126 deg.. The greatest intensity of the solar rays occurs from noon till half past two, when the sun is decreasing in altitude. But this stream of heat from the sun during the summer is not of daily occurrence, for even at Nel-

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son, perhaps the most sunshiny part of New Zealand, there are about ten days in every summer month during which the sun is more or less veiled by clouds.

In consequence of the agitation of the air produced by the wind, and the moisture the air contains, the heat of the sun is not often hurtful to persons exposed to it. During upwards of ten years' residence in one of the warmest parts of the colony, I only met with one fatal case of coup de soleil, a malady not unusual in New South Wales.

According to the observations hitherto made, most rain falls at New Plymouth and the least at Otago, and more rain falls, and the number of rainy and showery days is greater, in the North Island than in the Middle Island. But great irregularity occurs all over New Zealand in the monthly and annual quantities of rain falling in different years and at different places, although most rain falls ia winter. There are, however, no proper wet and dry seasons in New Zealand; fourteen days seldom pass without rain, and rain rarely continues for three successive days. Heavy rains occasionally occur, although slight when compared with those experienced on the Australian continent. Upwards of three inches of rain fell in twenty-four hours at Auckland in March 1853, and three inches and a half once fell at Nelson in eight hours. The temperature of the rain is sometimes above and sometimes below that of the air.

From the observations hitherto made, it results that more rain falls in New Zealand than at London, but less than that which falls on the west coast of England.

There is more moisture in the atmosphere surrounding New Zealand than in that surrounding England.

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Proofs of its presence are given in the luxuriance of the vegetation, the heavy night dews, and the mould which collects on unused shoes and wearing apparel. But it must not be confounded with raw dampness, for it produces an exquisite softness of the skin, and settlers rarely have that unpleasant glazed feeling of the skin so often experienced in dry climates.

This moisture is produced by the evaporation continually going on during dry weather from the South Sea, and it is only necessary to remember that New Zealand stands almost in the centre of the greatest expanse of ocean in the world, to perceive the powerful influence of this cause.

In probably no country in Europe is the atmosphere so frequently agitated by winds as in New Zealand. The mean pressure of the wind at Auckland is nearly a pound on the square foot, and the strongest wind yet registered at Auckland exerted a pressure of thirty-five pounds and a quarter on the square foot, equivalent to a velocity of eighty-four miles and a half per hour. A gale is indicated by a velocity of fifty miles an hour. The winds in New Zealand increase in force and frequency as we advance southwards from the North Cape. Cook's and Foveaux's Straits are celebrated for stiff breezes and gales.

At Nelson, standing at the bottom of Tasman's Bay, fourteen gales on an average of seven years occurred annually, and at Auckland eight. All round the coasts of New Zealand a sea breeze occasionally blows in summer.

We have only to remember that with every breath we cast out vast quantities of dead animal matter which is swept away by the wind, to perceive the influence

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which a constant agitation in the atmosphere has on the health.

In several places on the eastern coast, and in the interior where there are mountain chains ascending about 3000 feet above the level of the sea, a hot dry wind is occasionally experienced in summer. This hot wind melts the snow on the summits of the mountains in the Middle Island, swells the rivers fed from these sources, and rushing down on the plains in different directions, according to the shape of the valleys, raisers the thermometer twenty or thirty degrees. Fortunately for vegetation, this hot wind is generally the precursor of rain.

Different theories have been propounded as to the cause of this wind. It is probably an elevated current of the hot wind from the Australian continent, which is interrupted and directed downwards on certain places by the high mountains, while the lower current of this Australian hot wind is generally, not always entirely, cooled by passing over the surface of the sea before reaching the western coast of New Zealand.

That this hot wind is not produced by the plains in New Zealand, is almost proved by the wind being as warm at the foot of the snowy range of mountains in the Canterbury plain as at the coast. 3

That the wind is derived from Australia is inferred from vessels sailing from New Zealand to Sydney having been kept back for days at a long distance from the Australian coast by hot winds, 4 and from the occasional occurrence of a wind of about 70 deg. being experienced at

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Auckland, and other places on the western coast of the North Island, when westerly winds with fine weather have been blowing for several successive days in summer.

According to the observations recorded, the air exerts a greater pressure over the North than over the Middle Island. During the prevalence of gales the barometer occasionally ranges from 30.66 to 28.80. The influence of the wind on the atmospheric pressure has been observed all round the coast. The winds in New Zealand, unless of considerable force, are so modified by the shape of the islands that they are nothing but eddies from the great polar and equatorial currents. Generally wind from the equator brings rain and depresses the thermometer, while southerly or polar winds, which are frequently accompanied with fine weather, raises it. In the neighbourhood of high mountains, for example the Kaikoras in the Middle Island, the barometer occasionally moves without any obvious atmospheric disturbance.

There occurred at Nelson during eleven years, two solar haloes, twenty lunar haloes, and five extraordinary tides, phenomena said to affect the climate of countries; and this may be taken as an average of the frequency of their occurrence for the whole of New Zealand. The atmosphere on the coast is not much disturbed by thunderstorms, but in the neighbourhood of high mountains these phenomena are more frequent. Eleven thunderstorms occurred every year at Nelson, and at New Plymouth seven.

Fogs are not frequent in the northern parts of New Zealand, but they increase in number and duration as we advance southwards. These fogs impede the action

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of the compass. Hail storms occur. The Aurora Australis is occasionally seen from the Middle Island. Shooting stars are not so frequent as in England, and the heaven is rarely lit up with meteors of any great brilliancy.

These are the elements of the climate of New Zealand, and under its fertilising influence every European plant grows in the colony, while the geranium, arum, fuschia, balsam, myrtle, heliotrope, and Cape bulbs live in the open air. Flowers blow quickly, but the fragrance of the lily and the rose are not equal to that exhaled from lilies and roses in England. Figs, peaches, grapes, nectarines, plums, and melons ripen in the open air side by side with apples and pears; but the temperature in summer is not sufficiently warm in the southern parts of the colony to bring these delicate fruits to high perfection. At Nelson, in the Middle Island, melons, grapes, and nectarines ripen better than in any other part of New Zealand.

Camphor, spices, and the luscious fruits of Oriental orchards do not ripen in any parts of New Zealand, although the taro and sweet potato, originally brought by the natives from the tropics, still survive, and are cultivated for food by the aborigines living north of Banks's Peninsula. Potatoes and maize ripen side by side on the North Island, a circumstance rarely observed in Europe. The aloe, which seeds in South America in four years, and in England with difficulty after a long series of years, seeds in the neighbourhood of Auckland in eleven years.

An idea of the seasons in New Zealand may be drawn from English strawberries being ripe in November, December, and January; cherries and gooseberries in

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January; apples, pears, plums, and peaches in February; and melons, figs, and grapes in March and April. Spring, in short, commences in September, summer in December, autumn in April, and winter in June. The summer mornings, even in the warmest parts of the colony, are sufficiently fresh to exhilarate without chilling, and the seasons glide imperceptibly into each other. The days are an hour shorter at each end of the day in summer, and an hour longer in winter, than in England. The beauty of the day is in the early morning, and at this hour, away from the settlements of men, a solemn stillness pervades the air, which is only broken by the shrill and tinkling voices of birds. Summer nights are often singularly beautiful and mild, and on such occasions the settlers are frequently enticed from their houses to wander about in the open air.

Happily the climate is as favourable to the health of the settlers as it is to vegetation and beauty. Captain Cook, ninety years ago, remarked the healthy state of his ship's crew while beating about the coasts of the colony, and subsequent experience has furnished convincing proofs that Anglo-Saxon settlers multiply fast by births, and die slowly from disease. Evidence of the fecundity of the settlers is furnished by the census return, but there are no materials among the civil population for proving their healthfulness, except the sickness and mortality among the soldiers stationed in the colony. Fortunately conclusions drawn from this source are admitted to be the best standard for measuring the salubrity of the climate of any colony, because soldiers in every British regiment of the line are about the same age, feed on the same quantity and quality of food, are exposed to the same injurious agents, and perform

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nearly the same amount of labour, wherever they live. One fact it is requisite to remember, civilians invariably suffer less sickness than soldiers, because soldiers lead unnatural lives, sleep in crowded and ill-ventilated rooms, are deprived of much sleep, are insufficiently fed, and from the want of interesting mental occupation, and not having to provide for the hour of sickness, are more inconsiderate than civilians.

Notwithstanding these drawbacks, the soldiers stationed in New Zealand enjoyed better health than soldiers stationed in any other portion of Her Majesty's colonial possessions. During the five years ending March 1853, residence in New Zealand saved the lives of eight soldiers annually out of every thousand who would have died had the troops been quartered in the United Kingdom, 5 and it is now in my power to confirm this important conclusion by more extended inquiries.

From Tables II. and III. it will be seen:

1st. That 505 men out of every thousand were annually admitted into hospital in New Zealand, which is one half less than what occurs among infantry soldiers in the United Kingdom. 6

2nd. That five soldiers died annually out of every thousand in New Zealand from disease, which is two thirds less than the mortality among infantry soldiers stationed in the United Kingdom.

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This low mortality was not caused by sending sick men to England; for during the period over which the present observations extend very few men were invalided.

3rd. That twenty-two soldiers were constantly in hospital out of every thousand, whereas in England forty soldiers out of every thousand are constantly sick.

In addition to the above deaths from disease among the troops, during the six years enumerated, eleven men were drowned, four committed suicide, and three were accidentally killed.

Intemperance was the direct and indirect cause of the lamentable occurrence of so many suicides, and the frequency of deaths from drowning among the soldiers shows that the early settlers had some grounds for reckoning drowning among the natural modes of death in the colony.

Health conclusions drawn from the foregoing materials are applicable to the whole North Island, because during the years enumerated soldiers were quartered at the Bay of Islands, Auckland, New Plymouth, Napier, Wanganui, and Wellington, and no part of the force was engaged in actual hostilities.

It may be seen from Table IV., that the proportional number of persons attacked with almost any disease in New Zealand was less than what occurs in England; and according to Table V. the mortality by any disease, save one, is less in New Zealand than in England.

Diseases of the brain are more fatal among troops in New Zealand than in England; but most of the deaths under this head occurred from apoplexy, caused by

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drinking spirits to great excess: for example, one of the fatal cases was that of a man who dropped down dead after drinking off a pint of spirits at a draught.

The remarkably low mortality among the troops stationed in New Zealand is caused by the small number of deaths from fevers and diseases of the lungs. It is, however, the low mortality from the latter class of diseases which chiefly makes the climate so favourable for health; because in the United Kingdom ten men die annually out of every 1000 from diseases of the lungs, 7 whereas in New Zealand the mortality is only two and a half men per 1000, or five out of every 2000 men. Admissions into hospital and deaths from consumption are, in short, fewer in New Zealand than in the healthiest of the other foreign stations of the British army, as may be seen in Table VI.

It is worthy of remark that among the civil male population in England between twenty and forty years of age, 4-5 per cent, die annually from diseases of the lungs; 8 whereas among the troops in New Zealand the deaths were much below this.

It yet remains to be proved whether the duration of life will be extended among Anglo-Saxons resident in New Zealand. Without any statistical data it is inferred that it will be so, because the mortality among children and adults is low, and the climate gives to the aged an ease and comfort which neither wealth nor skill can produce in England.

No season can be reckoned unhealthy in New Zealand.

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Even the winter months, which within the temperate zone invariably cause most deaths, pass over the settlers almost unindicated by an increased mortality.

New Zealand will be found an invaluable residence for Europeans who have lost their health in India, China, or the warm districts of Australia. This is proved by the low mortality which occurs in New Zealand from fevers, liver complaints, and diseases of the stomach and bowels; maladies which drive Europeans from India and the tropics to search for health at the Cape of Good Hope, Egypt, Malta, and other countries. To "old Indians," who have suffered from no obvious organic disease, but whose minds and bodies are exhausted by the high temperature of the tropics, New Zealand will be found a peculiarly healthy residence. One fact maybe mentioned in proof of this. In 1847 Her Majesty's government sent out two battalions of enrolled pensioners for service in New Zealand. Those men were all old soldiers, and a large proportion of them had been invalided from the army for diseases contracted while serving in the East and West Indies. During the four years ending March 1853, the mortality among this force was sixteen men annually out of every thousand from disease,and nineteen from all causes; while the mortality among the enrolled pensioners in Great Britain and Ireland, like the New Zealand pensioners a selected class, was, during the eight years ending March 1852, twenty-two men annually out of every thousand.

It would be foreign to speculate here on the causes which produce this remarkable salubrity of the climate of New Zealand to Anglo-Saxons; but it probably arises

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from the evenness of the temperature at all seasons, the constant agitation the wind produces in the atmosphere, and the circumstance that, from whatever quarter the wind blows, it passes over a wide expanse of ocean; in addition to which, the country contains few physical sources of disease.