SOIL SURVEY FROM AIR

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXV, Issue 230, 14 September 1935, Page 6

SOIL SURVEY FROM AIR

H.B. Club Planes Engaged PHOTOGRAPHS FROM HEIGHTS r ~ A Quick and Easy Method Arrangements have been made with Flight-Lieutenajit Gerrand and Mr Piet van Asch, of the Hawke's Bay and East Coast Aero Club, to undertake an aerial survey of the district as soon as the weather permits. They will operate from a height of 10,000 feet, and, given ideal conditions, photographs taken at this height distinctly reveal variations in soil types. FlightLieutenant Gerrand is fully conversant with this type of work as he has made similar aerial surveys in Australia. From the aerial mapping it will be possible for Dr. Grange, of the Geological Department, to organise the work of the ground party to be engaged in the soil survey. Dr. Grange is expected to begin his survey next month after meeting the provisional committee of the Hawke’s Bay Development League. Although survey by air is a comparatively recent innovation, it has been already extensively used throughout the world. While the results are probably not quite up to the standard of ground work, nevertheless the aeroplane has made it possible for satisfactory surveys to be completed in a fraction of the time taken in ground surveys. Photographs are taken from a considerable height and each exposure overlaps and enables a complete picture ol the area to be produced. In Alaska vast unexplored tracts have been surveyed from the air. One expedition mapped some Id,ooo square miles in a year or so. Lach roll of 000 exposures mapped about 400 square miles of country. The African authorities arranged lor an aerial survey to map large uncharted areas in Nortnern Rhodesia. Survey expeditions have been working in South America, while round the north magnetic pole thousands of miles of Arctic coastline were satisfactorily charted. The work which it is proposed to undertake forms the basis tor research into the problems involved in the industrial and agricultural industries. The need for this type of research work has already been recognised in other parts of the world and it is considered essential for blew Zealand to keep pace with other countries if she is to compete in the world’s markets. It becomes increasingly necessary, year by year, to adjust production to the commodities that will make the best use of available resources and yield the maximum returns under local conditions. Thus is it possible to arrange lor each area to produce commodities that cannot be satisfactorily produced elsewhere. Soil Survey Fund The provisional secretaries to the Hawke’s Bay Development League desire to acknowledge the following contributions received or promised:—

Further contributions should be sent to Messrs. Kelsey and Bogers, P.O. Box 102, Hastings.

Hastings Borough Council £ s. d. 20 0 0 H. W. C. Baird 5 0 0 Sir Andrew Bussell .. .. 3 0 0 M. R. G. Matheson .. .. 1 1 0 Rainbow, Hobbs and Nesbitt 1 1 0 J. P. Boyle 1 0 0 Dr. E. Y. Comrie 1 0 0 A. R, Greenwood 1 0 0 J. Wilson 1 0 0 W. Crompton Smith .. .. 10 0 • £34 12 0