INSPECTED FROM AIR.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 59, Issue 44, 1 December 1938, Page 6

INSPECTED FROM AIR.

LAND IN THE SOUNDS DISTRICT.

(Per Press Association.) BLENHEIM, This Day

The advantages of the use of the aeroplane in carrying out inspections of backblock hill country was demonstrated this morning when the Marlborough Aero Qub’s Waco cabin plane was chartered by the Marlborough. No. 2 Adjustment Commission fir the purpose of examining several properties in the Sounds district. In the ordinary course of visits to areas concerned by launch and on foot would have occupied at least two days, hut by air over 200 miles were covered in 1 hour 46 minutes, and a more comprehensive investigation was possible than would have been the case otherwise.

The members ol the Commission, Messrs G. M. Spence, A. R. Graham, and E. Reid, piloted by Mr E. F. Holdaway, took off Blenheim and flew over Queen Charlotte, Pc loro us and Kenepuru Sounds, circling the properties several times at a low altitude. From the air they found it possible to gain a very much, better idea of the class of country comprised in the properties involved than would have been possible by clambering over them on foot. The distinction between the different classes of land was very marked. One thing that unfavourably impressed the Commission was the evidence of extensive slipping and erosion in some parts of the Sounds that have been denuded of bush.