TUESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1891.

Timaru Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 5262, 13 October 1891, Page 2

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1891.

: Not many weeks ago some paragraphs were going the round of the papers, concerning alleged successful esperi- | ments m the work of artificial ruiumaking. For several years past there bus been an undue prevalence of dry weather m South Canterbury, and it certainly would be an excellent tbing if a cheap and easy method were available for opening the flood-giites of Heaven m. . moderation at the will of the agriculturist. Fuller particulars of these experiments have now come to hand, and though success is still insisted on, there appear to bo some drawbacks which may cause the farming fraternity m this part of the world to hesitate before attempting to interfere with the course of nature m the manufacture, of seasonable showers. The Bcene of the operations already undertaken is a place called Midland, m Texas, and the chief operator was a General Dyrenforth, who, we presume,' is a soldier, unless indeed he belongs to the Salvation Army. The practice of his profession may 1 have casehardened bim. to infernal noises and terrific explosions, and may thus. have,, rendered bim oblivious to certain' objections which ordinary peaceful mortals might take "to his methods of procedure. We are told that the rain-makers are jubilant, but the feelings of residents m the vicinity are not alluded to. General Dyrenforth brought with bim an enormous quantity of rack-rock powder, dynamite, and materials for manufacturing a supply of explosive gas strong enough for any purposes of destruction. The gas was made and enclosed m bßlloons, which were Bent up to a height of about a mile and a quarter and then exploded by means of electricity. A truly awful explosion occurred and was heard and felt for many miles around. The sky was perfectly clear, and as it continued so after the explosion, a whole Btring of kites with dynamite attached to their tails was sent up, and it too was exploded by electricity. Still the sky continued clear, but the General showed himself to be a man of resource and perseverance. He fell back on his rack-rock powder, and scattered vast quantities of it on the ground for a space of four square miles. Once mo/c electricity was pressed into the service, and the powder expanse of 2560 acres waa let off with a row, to which the report from twenty batteries of artillery would have been soft music. This last effort won the battle, though it is supposed by General Dyrenforth that the kites and balloons, like the Prussians at Waterloo, contributed to the result. The smoke rose for 200 feet uu.d was then beaten down by torrents of rain, which is reported, to have extended over an area of 1000 miles. The terrific row reached people who were forty miles from the scene of action, and they are said to have taken it for thunder ; if so, what must it have been like to those on the spot ? There are always doubters m this world, and bo at Midland there were some people who would not believe m spite of the gas, the powder, the dynamite, the electricity, and the oceans of rain. They did not dispute the terrific noiae nor the connection between it and the materials which had been used to produce it, bnt they doubted the connection between the explosions and the raio. General Dyrenforth, however, was not to be suppressed. Ha undertook to make them believe, and at the date of the latest telegram which bus come under our notice, he was completing preparations for a series of explosions of a magnitude calculated to disturb half the American Continent, and bringdown a large part of the rain which is kept m stock, We are not amongst the doubters ; we believe it nil, but ia thegame worth the candle, and how about the police and thn nervous old ladies ? A cockatoo m ibeee hard times can scarcely make two ends meet by reducing his expenses to a mere skeleton, but his situation would be truly deplorable if he had to manufacture his own rain by means of gas, dynamite, balloons, kiteß, and electricity, and by laying down a portion of bis scanty holding m rack-rock powder to be exploded periodically m proportion to bis agricultural requirements. No one should question the fact of the experiments. We say m all seriousness that without a Bhadow of doubt the aritficial rain-makers are at work m America and mean business. That being so, it seems to us that a word of caution will not be out of place. The Ballarice 'Government a,re peculiarly open to the reception of new ideas, and it would not m the least surprise us if the Premier, the Minister of Lands, and the Minister of Public Works, were to lay their heads together and ngree to the addition of one more fad to the long list with which New Zealand is already afflicted. The Minister of Lands lias sworn that his Land Bill shall be before Parliament again next session, and m a more liberal and comprehensive shape than it presented this year. He will thus have a good opportunity of introducing artificial rainmaking to the notice of the New Zealand settler. It may be made one of tbe conditions of the unpurchasable perpetual lease that the lessee shall at all times be provided with an ample stock of General Dyrenforth's materials, and that they shall be used by the direction of tbe inspector or ranger and under his supervision ; the State to advance the, purchase .:' money o£ tbe original stock from the colonial trust funds at a low rate of interest, and the perpetual lessee to get his profit out of the increased crops resulting from the' explosions. It is our solid belief that the Ministerial majority would vote for the artificial rain if it was made part of the Ministerial policy, and we can see nothing to prevent Mr Ballance making it a part of the policy if he reada about the rain-making m one of the late magazines. Our word of friendly caution is to the Government. The mojority might vote for the artificial rain, but we really don't think that the country would stand it. The first explosion would blow the Government out of office. ,