ECLIPSE OF SUN

Southland Times, Issue 25310, 13 June 1935, Page 7

ECLIPSE OF SUN

NEW ZEALAND EXPEDITION. PREPARATIONS IN HAND. (Per United Press Association.) New Plymouth, June 11. Mary Island, in the Phoenix Islands group, is to be the scene of operations of astronomical observers from New Zealand when a total eclipse of the sun occurs in June, 1937. The New Zealand group will probably comprise Messrs F. Gawith, F.R.A.S. (Eltham), C. E. Michie (Kaitaia), Dr Bums (Timaru), and two others. Mary Island is a small coral atoll seven miles long and four miles wide, and is uninhabited. The group is north of Samoa, near the Equator, not Jar from the track of the San Francisco mail steamers. The New Zealand party proposes to obtain a launch, take it by steamer to the group, and then put off in the launch for Mary Island. The party will be picked up by a steamer about a month later. The island is a practically elliptical shell of coral, a safe navigable channel giving entrance to a large lagoon. There is no fresh water on the islet, and it will be necessary for the party to take its own supplies. It is understood that a party of American astronomers will make an expedition to Japan to study the eclipse. Mary Island, the New Zealanders believe, is tbe most suitable point from which to observe the phenomenon, as it will provide a view of the sun at its highest altitude. Mr Gawith, who explained the plans for the expedition, was a member of the scientific party which observed the eclipse of the sun from Niuafou Island in the Tongan group, a few years ago.