WET AND DRY SEASONS,

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 219, 16 August 1937, Page 8

WET AND DRY SEASONS,

INFLUENCES FROM ANTARCTIC

Discussing the report of the Polar Committee of the Imperial Conference, Sir Douglas Mawson said that he approved heartily of the suggestion that tho British authorities should co-operate with the Australian and New Zealand Governments for further exploration of the Australian and New Zealand sector of the Antarctic. There were several locations south of Australia and New Zealand, he said, where it would he desirable to establish permanent or semi-perman-ent stations for further investigation of meteorology in connection with long-range forecasts of the world s seasons. If more was known about conditions in the far south they would have a chance of obtaining more reliable conclusions on world climatic conditions. Year after year, seasons would be observed and more would be learned about the rhythm in which they seemed to move. Some sort of trigger pull which influenced the weather came from the Antarctic, and if this could be studied it would be possible to foretell wet and dry seasons in Australia with success. Sir Douglas Mawson also expressed approval of the Polar Committee’s suggestion that the dominions should be informed of the work of the Royal research ship, Discovery 11, and be invited to appoint reprsentatives from their permanent London staffs to attend meetings of the Discovery Committee.