Page:Notes on New Zealand (1892).pdf/64

54 latitude. The moderating effect of the surrounding ocean upon the climate is thus fully enjoyed by the inhabitants of New Zealand, an advantage which they possess over the Australian colonists, who have to endure the unmitigated harshness of their continental siroccos. There are not those "dry and rainy seasons" of which many people talk in connection with the colonies generally. Frosts, of course, come and go in winter time, but they only occur, as a rule, in the south of the South Island, and are almost unknown further north. Snow is seldom seen in the North Island, except on the higher mountains, and if it does