WELCOME RAIN.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIC, Issue 13369, 20 August 1907, Page 6

WELCOME RAIN.

.\ i;K>>-;-:i;Ai. fall. _\lu> iwi-i iM-.-iv. ■! in ' Timnru y-.-Hi.-r----.l::v a:..! ::inu' ihal heavy vain had fallen i:i 'mi.t ammid (Jamas ua* far north a.s X - V ' :i " iiiio. ..n.l :i !iulr.;v rain •'•""' ( lntsrcliiin.il ;is fin- (lov.ii [Tif line :»' Winchester. rLavy but broken clouds we;v Hying over Tiiiiaru, :.il (i;:v. borne liv :i MiiUh-e;.i,'...-:-iy biv.z.-. Thi.< wind must'have been blowing at a, diotancc I'm- siiiiK- lini-'. as •' !1 Sunday aiteruonii ;i mod* raUdy .-Hong .well was breaking o.i ilu coast. After srain- faint sprinklings dining ill.- atl.rnoi.n. rain .vt in iuiv in <a;n.-st about 5 p.m.. ii:i:l the .•-•lev gav.- promise of ;i w-.-t night. Ov.r (Lraldhie u>n\i-:pmid.-nr telephoned that a steady and heavy lain -"el in th.iv at 5 o'clock! and looked !ik-." eonlinuhif; all ni"iit. A siiirlit >l.c.»vr Ml ill T; maka at 9 a.m. vJ-krday. and afLr a bitterly cold, i!;iv with strong S. K. wind, vain set in iteadily and h.avily ill 5 p.m.. and pio-i.iis.-d "to continue alt night. Farmers are jubilant, and "it* come at last, was their usual Riveting whenever . lhey met I;ist evening. Wliat "it " iv;i-, went, without saying. AFIFR AX KXPLOSTOX. A GOOD JVOWXPOUU. The following paragraphs appear in y.r>terday lm.vniiig'ii "Xorlk Otago Times" : A "special train with the- guncotton required' for ills' rain-making experiments arrived in Uamarn on Saturday morning the early irain having been run through from Lyitelton at night. •• The eoand of a loud explosion, apparently coming from the direction of Raid's Table, was heard in Oamuru last evening. Probably it- was an attempt to increase tit? rainfall," which at the time- was -slight-. 'J hi heaviest rain for a long time was falling in Oamaru last night, and from appearances was general over the district. Time are some people who are quite satisfied that even the small explosion which occmred at Raki's Table on Friday evening was productive of rain. We have? it on the authority of Air George White,' of Hilderthorpe, that on Friday evening "h? was standing tiilking to others on his farm when he noticed heavy clouds over Toka-rahi, and remarked that an explosion would probably bring rain. He did not know that an experimental shot was about to be fired, but almost immeditely after the remark the explosion was heard, and looking towards the cloud he saw it spreading and watched it gradually working over towards th» Papakaio Plain, the wind being in that direction. - The result was that in about half an hour from the? time of th-a explosion ;v ehowx-r was fidling at Hilderthorpe, and it continued for about half an hour. We understand that a shower fell at Buntroon about the came time, and that it was general from there to the sea. The phenomenon is worthy of record though it is by no meau.s certain that the exp'.oHon and the shower are co-related. As a matter of fad the clouds that . overhung Raki'.s Table at the time of the explosion were light. Heavier clouds were to ba seen in the. direction of Toko-rahi and Ala-Eivwhenua tables, that being «lso the direction in which the wind was blowing.

The following is from last evening' Oantaru Mail " :

The temperature- of the air in the shade wr.ii 41£ deg., and the wet bulb same,, showed what was evident —that the atiiiosplin-e wa..3 saturated with moi.-ture. Colder weather, strong southerly winds, and heavy ruin may be expected duiingthe luxt- two days.

As we went- "to press rain was falling heavily, and no signs of iiunudiatc abate-. ment.

A Ngapata correspondtnt informs us that veiv lie tie ruin had fallen there up to midday to-day. At that time rain clouds weie hanging overhead with an apptarauce of drilling away, and, acting ou nli own initiative, Corporal Meikte, who is in charge of the lain-producing explosives, tried a shot at 11.30. This was followed by a slight fall of rain, and when, an hour later, a second iliot wai; iired, heavv rain s.t in. 'lhis our correspondent,

accepts as indicating the value oi conclusion as a, mtiißS of arresting rain clouds. Passengers by train from the South report thao th--:e had been an apparently local iaii of snow on the hills, near Maher.o. While no snow of any note was to ba s.eu elsewhere, it lay s-veral iutks deep on IhcGe kiii-j. The Rain i-ixperimeniing Committor Lit this morning lor oiie of the inland stations-. On .Saturday evening a light iioith-tu.it wind, with a rising sea and cirius cloudsturning to haze, showed givat probability of the advent of welcome rain. This commenced as- a drizzle at 4 a.m. on Sunday, and at nine o'clock four points were re.gistered in Cti'.naru. Tire weather turned warmer, and though misty during the day, light rain only made its appearance again about sundown. This continued steadily during the night, and 40 pointc, or 4-10tiw of an inch in depth, were measured at Gamaiu. It appears to have been ev<?n hfaviii- inland in the south for at. Totara, Station Mr J. MePherson measured 73 points, or nearly three-quarters' of an inch of rain. On the northward tide but little rain fell.

At Ngapara, .scarcely enough fell, to wet the. ground ; at Kurow only a fewdrops. At Papakaio a heavy rain began between 5 and 6 this morning, and a, good deal of water had accumulated round me station—a thing not oeen for years past, and Hampden had a good fall on Sunday. HEAVY FALL ROUND OAMARU. EXPERIMENTS OF NO AVAIL. Per Press Association. OAMARU, August 19. - Hiavy rains, the best for the pait two yeai:;, have Jidlen in this district, the ground being well saturated along the coast. The rains started about 8 o clock on Sunday night and have continued more or ie>.-s heavily up till the present time, '■[' he hack pare; ol the di.-triet weie. howevi r. not touched and the rainmaking detachment visited the stations where it was intended to explode the dynamite and gunc(.l ti.n when favourable opportunity oc- < lin el. Thi,-e or four shots were lired and it is sail that these were followed by rain. It, however, may be explained that the wind which had previously been blowing fioni lb:- ?!ort!i-ea?t veered to the south-east driving th - ira-i lain cloud.-: over 111.- dry country i<> the bills beyond. Th' i-v-iieiintents. then-fore, d' levmin; nothing mi f ; ,r ;>.% the uro of e.vp'.-i iv x for rai-MiiahniT are romeim .1. -M-. "-( two inch s »f rai'i had fallen in - ii-hi. I :.bout fiv» i::i!e~ from ihe locality of the exlihcions before they look place. It fc iut ndi'd 1o make further exnerimenls at the luxt favourable- opportunity.