OUR POSITION

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 5, 6 July 1928, Page 14

OUR POSITION

IN GEOGRAPHICAL SENSE LECTURE BY DR. ADAMS .' '' The Position of New Zealand " was the title of a lecture delivered on Wednesday in the Dominion Museum by Dr. C. E. Adams, Government Astronomer and Seismologist, to the astronomical section of the Wellington Philosophical Society. He explained at the outset that he referred to the geographical position, the Dominion's political and, financial position was being dealt with in "the house across the road." Di\ Adams referred to the recent work that had been done to determine the longitude of New Zealand. : No fewer than sixty observatories, including that at Kelburn, had taken part in the international scheme of longitude determination, in which wireless time signals had played an important part. For •■the first time wireless signals direct from Greenwich had been utilised for calculations, 'cutting out all intermediate arcs. The work in New Zealand was done in October and November last, but had been somewhat hampered by bad weather. The work accomplished, however, compared more than favourably with any done elsewhere. '. ''■': ( Early efforts to fix the longitude of New Zealand was mentioned by Dr. Adams, who said that Tasinan, when voyaging from Australia" to look for the Solomon Islands, stumbled across New Zealand. This was in 1643, and Tasman's calculations placed New Zealand only ten minutes (about ten miles) south of its true position, a surprisingly accurate result for the first attempt of a European to locate New Zealand. Over one hundred years later Captain Cook, with better instruments at his command, was less than two miles out in his calculations as to the longitude ttf these islands, his map of New Zealand (a slide of which was thrown on the screen) being wonderfully accurate. In 1850 two of Her Majesty's ships, the Pandora and the Akaroa, made precise calculations with chronometers. In 1876 the submarine cable was utilised for calculations for the first time. All these, later calculations were made using , the longitude of Sydney as a basis for comparison, but as there was some doubt as to Sydney's exact longitude the results were not as accurate as those deduced from the most recent calculations. What the final figure to be adopted would be- those responsible for the , recent experiments would shortly determine. With regard to latitude, Dr. Adams said he would like to see investigations pushed further, especially in conjunction with , a gravity survey. Photography of the moon and the stars on the same- plate was a method of helping in the determination of latitude, which might be used with advantage. Dr. ■P. Marshall raised the question of continental drift, a theory, he said, which had not met with much favour when discussed by tho British Association1. He asked whether the known shifting of the poles would not account for the variations in longitude determinations. ' ■ ■.', • Dr. Adams, in reply, said that he did not think that' the wanderings of tho Poles would make much difference. It was rash to speculate about any drift on the part-of New Zealand until further data had been obtained. If the longitude determination programme was repeated ten -years hence, it might be possible to say something definite.