Table showing the Mean Annual Temperature, as well as the Mean Summer and Winter Temperatures, in twelve different cities.

City.  Mean Annual Temp.  Mean Summer Temp.  Mean Winter Temp.  United kingdom London 50.8 62.9 39.5 Edinburgh 47.5 58 38 Dublin 50 61.1 40.7 . . . .

Southern Europe
Marseilles (France) 58.3 72.9 45.2
Naples (Italy) 62 74.4 47.6
Messina (Sicily) 65.8 77.2 55

. . . .

United states of America
New York 53.2 70.9 30.1
San Francisco 56.2 60 51.6
New Orleans 69.8 82 55.8

. . . .

India
Bombay 78.8 82.6 73.8
Calcutta 78.4 83.3 67.8
Madras 82 86.4 76.6

It has been said that Australia is practically Southern Europe, and to a very great extent this is perfectly true.  It will be seen, however, on reference to the preceding tables, that the Australian climate is more equable than that of Southern Europe, for there is not such a marked difference between the hot and the cooler months.  In the New England States of North America, as exemplified by New York, there are intensely hot summers and extremely cold winters—­to which fact attention has already been drawn.  And lastly, in India, the thermometer stands at such a height, winter as well as summer, that we can only be thankful our lines are cast in more pleasant places.

Having thus compared the summer and winter temperatures of the Australian capitals with those of other cities in different parts of the world, it will be advisable to direct our attention to some details connected with the climate of these capitals, and of the corresponding colonies generally.  Commencing with Sydney we find that the climate is characterized by the absence of very violent changes of temperature, owing in great measure to its proximity to the ocean, which in winter is about 10 degrees warmer than the air.  Its summer climate is marked by the absence of hot winds, which do not come more than three or four times, and the are short-lived, seldom lasting more than five or six hours.  For a short time in the midsummer of each year, Sydney is visited regularly by moist sea breezes, which are enervating to many persons.  While these continue the temperature seldom rises to 80 degrees, but there is so much moisture that they are very oppressive.  Otherwise the climate is one of the most enjoyable in the world.  In other parts of New South Wales towns may be found varying in mean temperature from 45.8 degrees at Kiandra to 69.1 degrees at Bourke.  Speaking generally it is a fact that for the same mean annual temperature in New South Wales the range between summer and winter temperature is less than it is in Europe.