Nevertheless there were times when both Taylor and Quayle were at a loss to ascribe a synoptic reason for widespread rainfalls, particularly in the inland parts of the eastern States.

For want of a better word, they called them 'non-isobaric' rains.

Taylor's services were required at times for matters that took him away from Central Office. In 1920 he went to Canberra to report on the efficacy of 'dowsing' or water-divining.

In 1919 he was in Adelaide and occupied the witness box for three days, as a witness for the Commonwealth Government which was sued for damages amounting to more that £100000 by a grazier who alleged that the Government's new Kingoonyn well had interfered with the water supply to another well-established well two miles away.

After his experimental attempts at rain-making in South Australia, a Mr Balsillie moved his plant to Hopetoun in the Victorian Mallee. Taylor took the opportunity of inspecting the apparatus at the rain-making station but at the time of his visit it was out of order; nevertheless he was not impressed by what he saw and what he was told.

Bureau of Meteorology