Our land and its people

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33959, 27 September 1975, Page 10

Our land and its people

Society and Environment In New Zealand. Edited by R. J. Johnston. Whitcombe and Tombs. N.Z. price $8.95. This introduction to our geograph.v was sponsored by the New Zealand Geographical Society for the visitors to the regional congress of the International Geographic Union held here in 1974. But the survey will also be of great interest to a wider audience interested in the state of the New Zealand environment and of the geography profession. There are eight essays written by 10 authors. W. J. Brockie’s “Landform Systems” is a fascinating account which relates the physical structure of New Zealand to the fundamental physical processes, starting with New ■Zealand being on the margin of two great tectonic plates which have generated our Southern Alps, our earthquakes. and our geothermal activity. Regrettably the chapter is marred by the writer’s propensity for polysyllabic expressions (i.e. he uses long words). -■ W. J. Maunders chapter on the climatic influence on the country is equally as interesting and more readable. The historical geography essay written by T. J. Hearn and R. P. Hargreaves is unfortunately “one damn thing after another” rather than offering a coherent view of the spatial development of New Zealand. A similar weakness exists in the population essay by L. D. B. Heenan and A. D. Trilin. There is no real over view of our demographic character. Geography appears weakest where it has to borrow from other social sciences. This is perhaps best illustrated in the second half of the population essay which argues we are a “chaotic society.” Such an argument is equivalent to throwing up one’s

hands and abandoning any pretext of being a social scientist. What is significant in our society ;s that in spite of the substantial pressures of change we hate not collapsed into chaos. Underlying regularities have remained — in some spatial and demographic cases for ion and more years. But these are the two weakest contributions. W. Moran on agriculture. H. S. Gibbs on land and water resources, and R. G. Lister the landscape al! maintain the intellectually stimulation of the first two essays, while the essay of R. i Johnston.' who edited the collection on Urban Systems not only exhibits our social geographers at their best, but gives a tantalising hint that they are not far off a comprehensive spatia; analysis of New Zealand society The 24 plates, selected by Brockle and Lister, are as good a selection . f New Zealand landscapes as the reviewer has seen — true and unsentimental. Altogether the book ■< well-produced, except that the page headings referring to chapter sub sections make quick location f chapters difficult. The lack . f footnotes and fragmentary bibliography will inhibit the layman who follows up a specific idea presented in a chapter. The New Zealand Geographical Society has done itself proud. There has been a recent plethora of collections of essays on various aspects of New Zealand society. Many of them have been poorly edited with incoherent coverage, and with the best of individual essays no better than the two weakest of this collection. “Society and Environment” is an outstanding exception; it deserves the wide audience for which the geographical sponsors hoped.