On the North coast hurricanes have been experienced in December, February, March, and April. The most destructive on record, that of 20th and 21st March, 1872, commenced from the South-East, and having veered to North, there was a calm for about half-an-hour; it then began to blow from the North-West and by West to South-East, when it dropped to a calm; the greatest force of the storm was at the middle points, East and West.
The climate of the North-West is for the most part dry, with occasional tropical rains and strong winds from December to April inclusive; exceptional rains with moderate winds in June and July.
Ice has been seen on the Ashburton and from thence to the South coast, especially in the upper valley of the Murchison River, but in no part of the Colony has it been observed to last many hours. Hail is rare, but occasionally, even on the North coast, severe. Thunder storms are not frequent, more common towards the North, where damage has occasionally been done by lightning; they are periodical in the summer in the Murchison District.
There are of course in West Australia, as elsewhere, the usual differences resulting from locality, but the healthfulness of the climate of West Australia will appear from the following facts:—
In 1869 the population was 24,785 persons, the deaths only 334, or 13·47 in 1000: this may be taken as a fair average year. In 1875 the population was 26·709, and the deaths 473, or 21·0 in 1000, this was an un-
