Climate.

The climate of Canterbury is well suited to Europeans. It resembles that of Great Britain, but on the plains is far more equable, the mean daily range of temperature being 17.10° Fahr. Observations taken at Lincoln (fourteen miles from Christchurch) for a period of ten years, ending December, 1892, give the following results: Barometer, reduced to 32° Fahr. and sea-level, 30.06 in.; mean maximum daily temperature, 61.47°; mean minimum daily temperature, 43.27°; mean average temperature, 52.37°. The extremes of temperature were 92° and 22° Fahr. The rainfall for the same period averaged 26 809 in. per annum, the extremes being 35.287 in. in 1886 and 14.836 in. in 1890. The average annual number of days on which rain fell was 123, the extremes being 149 in 1887 and 98 in 1891. Snowfalls are very light on the plains, but in the high uplands the climate is much colder and more severe. The changes of weather and temperature are sudden, calms and gales, rain and sunshine, heat and cold alternating. The prevailing winds are north-east, south-west, and north-west-the last a hot, wind. The climate, as a whole, is splendidly healthy, bracing, and most enjoyable.