SOIL EROSION IN N.Z.

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25741, 1 March 1949, Page 4

SOIL EROSION IN N.Z.

“PROBLEM NOT SO BAD AS IN U.S.” (P.A.) DUNEDIN. February 28. “Soil erosion in New Zealand is not nearly so serious a problem as some people consider, and is not nearly as bad here as in the eastern United States,” said Professor G. W. Robinson, head of the agricultural chemistry division at the University College of Bangor, North Wales, to-day. Professor Rpbinson. who was leader of the British delegation to the Pacific Science Congress, said he had not had an opportunity of observing the country as a whole. In his reference to erosion, he was talking of those parts he had actually seen. These were mainly lowland areas. Hh had noted a certain amount of erosion in the higher areas of the North Island, but he did not regard it as seriously as some people did. Professor Robinson said he was impressed by the “enormous fertility” of soils in New Zealand. This fertility was greater than anything in Eng; land. When he had visited the Taieri Plains, he was astounded at the yields of crops such as swedes, mangolds, and corn. New Zealand, he said, had as high an agricultural potential as any country he had visited.