* Places with a large number of "uncomfortable months (e.g., Batavia) have naturally a larger number of unpleasant days per month than those with few uncomfortable months; i.e., in Class 3 Batavia will have about 150 uncomfortable days in 10 months, while Alice Springs will have perhaps only 5 days in its single month.

Whether the absolute values be adopted or not, the relative positions of the various localities in the scale have a real climatological meaning. I must refer readers to papers published elsewhere (see footnote) for a full discussion of the climatic factors controlling settlement, but several points can be gathered from this table.

New Zealand ranks highest in our part of the world as a comfortable climate for Englishmen, with Tasmania a close second. Each of these is probably more comfortable than London, for they have fewer raw days. Melbourne is the best of the mainland capitals, followed closely by Perth, Adelaide, and Sydney. Somewhat unexpected, perhaps, is the high position of the inland towns, e.g., Coolgardie, Alice Springs, and others similarly situated. They have dry, bracing climates, and seem to be admirably suited to whites for the greater part of the year. Unfortunately, lack of rainfall prevents

The Control of Settlement by Humidity and Temperature, by .Griffith Taylor, D.Sc., Meteorological Bulletin 14, Melbourne, 1916.

The Settlement of Tropical Australia, by Griffith Taylor, D.Sc., Royal Society Queensland. Brisbane, 1918.

Factors Influencing Settlement, by Griffith Taylor, D.Sc., Commonwealth Year Book, Melbourne, 1918.

The Australian Environment, especially as Controlled by Rainfall, by Griffith Taylor, D.Sc., Melbourne. Science and Industry Memoir, 1918.

Text Book of Australian Meteorology, by Griffith Taylor, D.Sc., Oxford University Press, 1920.

agriculture and close settlement in all but the merest southern fringe of these areas.

It is when we approach the northern coastal regions that the picture becomes less hopeful. Here the rainfall is suitable for many tropical products; and the soil, though generally poor in the north, is fertile enough in many of the valleys to support thousands of agriculturists. But the rainfall occurs almost wholly in summer, so that as soon as we pass north of the Tropic of Capricorn the climate rapidly deteriorates.

Many people have anathematised the oppressive days in February, which are so disagreeable a feature of Sydney. Yet the latter city has no single month with an average approaching 70 degrees wetbulb; for January and February barely reach 65 degrees F. Compare this with Townsville, which has five months of such oppressive weather (over 70 degrees), or with Cooktown, which has ten, and Thursday Island, which suffers all the year round. (See the lines across Fig. 3.)

Where steady winds blow, these figures give, perhaps, too unfavourable a picture; but there is no doubt that our tropical coastlands have a distinctly unattractive climate for many months of the year.

There is little to choose between the climates of our tropics and those of other lands, where no close white settlement has been thought to be possible. Comparing rainfall and temperature records, it is easy to show that our north-west coast, near Broome, closely resembles the mouth of the Congo. The Wyndham region is only paralleled by the Tinnevelli region south of Madras. Darwin has a "homoclime " in Cuttack, on the Bay of Bengal; and Townsville has not very different records from Calcutta.

In the interior, conditions are more promising as regards comfort. Carnarvon and Wiluna, in West Australia, are akin to German South-west Africa (where similar pastoral pursuits obtain), while Alice Springs resembles Southern Algeria. None of these regions can ever, I fear, support a large white population.

Perhaps in Brazil is the closest approach to the conditions affecting our white settlers in the tropical and littoral regions. But here the Germans have only colonised the southern states, which resemble Grafton, in N.S. Wales, and are therefore not tropical. The Italians are developing the Brazilian Brisbane," and only the Spanish touch the cooler portions of the tropical territories. Hence, our white sugar growers around Cairns and Mourilyan seem to be the advance guard of the farmer in the tropics.

66

Two more points must be dwelt on briefly. The vegetation of northern Australia is not the luxuriant jungle which most people associate with the Tropics. With very few exceptions (which are confined almost wholly to the East Queensland coast), the dominant flora differs little from that in southern Australia. A scattered eucalypt bush is characteristic there, as in most of the rest of Australia. This is due to the long winter drought, which extends over six months each year in the north, and absolutely prevents the growth of tropical jungle. Moreover, speaking generally, our tropical soils do not result from the breaking-down of basic lavas or other formations which give good soils, but are formed from the weathering of sandstones and limestones, which are not particularly rich in plant foods.

On the other hand, our tropics are remarkably free from tropical disease. This is no doubt largely due to the absence of a native population, and, apart from some malaria, which is decreasing in virulence, there is nothing resembling Scourges of other tropical lands.

the

I have laid little stress in this article on mining, and for this reason-it certainly has led to isolated communities (as at Coolgardie, Broken Hill, etc.), but only rarely gives rise to real close settlement. Few people realise that less than 2 per cent. of our population are actively engaged in mining, and, as a result, only about 120,000 people are living in regions which would otherwise be practically uninhabited. Outside Queensland, none of the tropical mines are very flourishing, and there are less than 500 miners in the whole of the Territory, in spite of continuous Government assistance. Moreover, all our important coal deposits occur in areas capable of agriculture, and they will merely intensify settlement in regions which are certain to become well populated.

As regards the future, it is possible, as time goes on, that the climate of the hot coastal regions will have less effect on the energy of the settlers. In France, the northerners are said to be moving south, and tending to displace the Provencals, who cross to Algeria. Here the French Southerners are slowly displacing the Arabs. If this be true, we may hope to see some such migrations to warmer regions in Australia. But it is a matter of centuries, and who can say that we shall be left in peace for this experiment in colonisation.

PART VIII.

Conclusion.

Of all the continents, Australia is perhaps the least favoured by nature. Africa and Asia have larger arid regions, but so also have they larger fertile regions. No other continent has so great a proportion dominated by the dessicating trade winds. This indicates that a very large extent, possibly three-quarters, must always be devoted to grazing. Probably in time almost the whole of the interior will be found to be capable of supporting sheep and cattle; but there is no reason to suppose that it will support a close white settlement. Nor

In 1917 white miners 200, Chinese 280.

are the indications hopeful as regards the settlement of the northern coastlands. There are only ten farmers in the Territory, as the result of all the inducements offered to prospective settlers.

As regards the east and south, conditions are very different. Wherever there are railways, the population has spread, and we can confidently expect that a large population will occupy much of the regions receiving over 20 inches of rainfall. In U.S.A. this isohyet is the chief limiting factor in settlement, and bounds the region occupied by more than six people to the square mile.

The great coal belt from Fingal (Tas.), through Morwell (Vic.), Sydney (N.S.W.), Ipswich, Dawson, and Clermont (Q.), will determine the closest settlement, which near Sydney, will possibly take the form of a solid block of towns from Newcastle to Bulli. A hundred years hence, the population map will differ in degree, but not much in character from that given in fig. 1.

It is our obvious duty to make the most of our northern regions. As a whole, they are only suited to a pastoral occupation, and we should develop them by new railways, by conserving water, by sinking artesian wells, and by facilitating freezing works and oversea transport.

Personally, I doubt if our northern coastlands will tempt the invader of the future. He will strike for the eastern regions, with their coal mines and great possibilities for close settlement. It behoves us, then, to strengthen our main defences, especially in the air and on the sea, and to rule out the settlement of the Northern Territory and northern West Australia, as a factor in defence,