HUGE WORLD MAP

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 118, 12 February 1940, Page 11

HUGE WORLD MAP

Fascinating Exhibit In British Pavilion SEVEN TONS OF WATER One of the most fascinating exhibits in the United Kingdom Pavilion and indeed in the whole Exhibition, is the horizontal map of the world displayed in the west court of the pavilion. It occupies an area of 800 siftiare feet and is constructed to the projection which was introduced by Mercator in the sixteenth century and is still universally used in navigators’ charts today. The map is designed to illustrate in graphic form the principal Imperial shipping routes and air services throughout the world. The land surfaces are shown in relief and through the water which represents the oceans, numerous small model ships move continuously along the principal sea routes. How It Works. Visitors to the exhibit are frequently heard to remark: “I wonder how it works” and the attendants are, constantly answering similar inquiries. The mystery of the moving ships on the sea routes of the world is no mystery to the man under the map. The cavern below the map is filled with revolving drums, humming dynamocs and flashing lights; in fact, there is scarcely room to move about. The man under the map is Mr. W. F. Payne, the technician who was responsible for its erection and partly for its design, and bis reply to the mystification his map causes to the hundreds of people who look down on it from above is, “It is all very simple.” But even then it does not look simple. The map was sent out from England in 30 cases, and their total weight was approximately 12 tons. The tank is 23 feet by 46 feet and contains seven tons of water. Each miniature ship travels half a mile a day, and as there are 128 ships, the total distance they journey daily is 64 miles. During the six months the Exhibition is open they will have travelled 9984 miles, which is equivalent to a voyage from Wellington to Vancouver and back to Honolulu or to four return trips from Wellington to Sydney. _