COMMISSION TRAVELS BY AIR

Southland Times, Issue 23681, 2 December 1938, Page 6

COMMISSION TRAVELS BY AIR

PROPERTIES INSPECTED IN MARLBOROUGH (United Press Association) BLENHEIM, December 1. The advantage of the use of the aeroplane in carrying out inspections of back-block hill country was demonstrated, possibly in unique fashion, this morning when the Marlborough Aero Club’s Waco cabin machine was chartered by the Marlborough No. 2 Mortgage Adjustment Commission for the purpose of examining several properties in the Sounds district. In the ordinary course visits to the areas concerned by launch and on foot would have occupied at least two days, but by air a distance of over 200 miles was covered in 1 hour 45 minutes and a more comprehensive investigation was possible. Members of the commission, Messrs G. M. Spence, A. R. Graham and E. Reid, piloted by Mr E. F. Holdaway, took off from Blenheim and flew over Queen Charlotte, Pelorus and Kenepuru Sounds, circling the properties several times at a low altitude. From the air they found it possible to gain a very much better idea of the class of country comprised in the properties involved than would have been possible by clambering over them on foot. The distinction between the different classes of land was very marked One thing that unfavourably impressed the commission was the evidence of extensive slipping and erosion in some parts of the sound that had been denuded of bush.