CHECK ON COMPASSES

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 149, 21 December 1936, Page 7

CHECK ON COMPASSES

WORLD-WIDE SURVEY

CARNEGIE MAGNETIC WORK

Mr. Wilfred C. Parkinson, of the Carnegie Institution at Washington, has been travelling around the world for the best part of 23 years, and he still likes it. He arrived by the Makurn from Sydney on Saturday. Mr. Parkinson's job is an unusual one, and one that takes him into the strange places of the earth. He is a magnetician. attached to the Depart-, ment of Terrestrial Magnetism of the Carnegie Institute, and his mission in life is to make a study of this invcflved and highly technical subject•of terrestrial magnetism in order to discover compass variations, and so make the necessary adjustments to navigation charts. All his findings are communicated periodically to the Institute at Washington, which in turn transmits its inforVjnalion to the navigation authorities of the nations and countries concerned in order that they may correct their charts. It is essential that this should be done, because, according to Mr. Parkinson, variable changes are taking place continuously. In New Guinea, for instance, where he has just been, the charts show a variation of as much as two degrees, when compared with- the observations he took when he was there in 1915-1916.

Mr. Parkinson has another two years' travelling ahead of him. He started out on his task at the' beginning of the present year, and so far has completed investigations in most parts of Australia. Now, minus an overcoat, -but plus some highly complicated looking scientific gear, he has arrived in the Dominion to check up and see how much the two islands have slipped—speaking, of course, magnetically. He plans to-remain in New Zealand until early in February, when he will take ship for Samoa and continue his observations in the Pacific Ocean, where, because of the innumerable islands,'his work is exceedingly important. When in New Zealand he will attend the conference of the Australasian, Association for the Advancement of Science, which is to be held in Auckland next month. He was here twenty years ago investigating this particular phasa of science.

The territory allotted to him on this occasion comprises Australia and New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, and after having sounded this part of the world, he proposes to trip off to Southern Asia, and continue his explorations, there. -

Mr. • Parkinson was on the non-mag-netic yacht Carnegie, built almost entirely of wood and bronze—even down to the engines—when she blew up in a gasoline explosion in Apia harbour in 1929. The captain and the cabin boy, who were on the quarter-deck at the time, were killed, and several members of the crew injured. Mr. Parkinson escaped hurt.

The British Government, he stated, is now building a similar type of vessel for magnetic survey work. It will be of particular value in the vast Indian Ocean, where the most important part of the magnetic changes are found to take place. In view of the:, fact that there are very few islands here, the survey has" to be j conducted from shipboard, and for ' this, it is essential that a speciallyconstructed type of ship should be used. N A vessel engaged specifically in this class of work expedites it very much. At present, Mr. Parkinson travels by the recognised trade routes where practicable, but in visiting such spots as the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, where there- are no- regular trading steamers, he has to use the mission boats.