New Zealand

E. M. J. Campbell

The *Descriptive Atlas of New Zealand*, published by the New Zealand Government in 1959 and edited by A. H. McLintock, is a comprehensive official publication comprising text, photographs, full-color maps, and a gazetteer. With over 100,000 words, the text covers the country's history, government, physical geography, resources, and population, supplemented by 25 excellent aerial photographs and 14 thematic maps at 1:3,200,000 scale, including geology, soils, vegetation, population distribution, land use, and manufacturing. Despite minor flaws, such as climate maps lacking scales and graticules and an inconsistent style for island territories, the atlas is highly praised for its quality and utility. The reviewer suggests that the government should fund a true 'National Atlas' to further aid national planning.

E. Reiner

This article reviews the new national atlas of New Zealand, published in 1960. Compiled under the direction of Chief Cartographer R.G. Dick, the atlas was completed in 1959 and presents the most up-to-date statistical information on New Zealand at the time. The work is divided into a text section and a map section. The text comprises 27 chapters covering topics from Maori settlement, discovery, and early colonization to geology, climate, flora and fauna, soils, land use, agriculture, economy, population, and tourism. The map section includes topographical and numerous thematic maps, complemented by high-quality aerial photographs. The review analyzes the atlas's structure, cartographic techniques (such as projections and color schemes), and its strengths and weaknesses, praising its thematic maps on economy and population while critiquing certain outdated map styles and binding issues. Overall, the atlas is hailed as one of the finest works on New Zealand's geography, combining scientific rigor with aesthetic appeal.

The Editors

This article provides a comprehensive critical review of 'A Descriptive Atlas of New Zealand', published in 1959. The author begins by noting that while the atlas is well-produced, its purpose is ambiguous, as it is neither an ideal academic reference nor a fully qualified national atlas. The review then systematically examines defects in the atlas's binding, map content, text, and illustrations. Criticisms include the full binding hindering map updates and flat use, inappropriate map scales, outdated or over-generalized information, and inconsistent symbolization. The text section is criticized for verbosity, unclear phrasing, and missing crucial dates. Despite acknowledging merits such as excellent printing and some original maps, the article concludes that the atlas falls short of national standards. The author suggests that to achieve true national atlas status, a complete recasting with loose-leaf maps and comprehensive coverage of New Zealand's physical, human, and economic geography is necessary.

J. S. D.

This is an academic review of the *Descriptive Atlas of New Zealand*, published by the New Zealand Government in 1959. The atlas comprises 48 map pages and 88 pages of text, systematically covering New Zealand's physical and human geography, including relief, geology, soils, climate, vegetation, population distribution, land use, manufacturing, and communications. The review identifies several cartographic shortcomings, such as layer coloring that inadequately represents the country's rugged terrain, binding that detracts from map usability, outdated maps not referenced in the text, and an erroneous caption for Tasman's map. Despite these flaws, the reviewer highly praises the 25 full-page photographs, mostly aerial obliques, with detailed captions that vividly illustrate the diversity of New Zealand's landscape. Overall, the review concludes that while the atlas is rich in factual content and visually appealing, it lacks the synthesis needed to integrate its parts into a cohesive whole, likening it to a lavishly illustrated yearbook. It also expresses hope that the atlas's unexpected success might prompt the government to reconsider an Historical Atlas project.

Stanistaw Leszczycki

This is an academic review of A Descriptive Atlas of New Zealand, published in 1960 by R. E. Owen, Government Printer, Wellington. The atlas, in a 26×31 cm format, contains 33 colored maps, 25 black-and-white maps in the text, 88 pages of explanatory text, and 24 full-page aerial photographs. The review notes that while the atlas adheres to traditional cartographic methods and shows little influence from modern world cartography, its graphic design is exceptionally meticulous, and its extensive text effectively makes it a monograph on New Zealand. The text, comprising 27 short chapters by various specialists, covers historical, environmental, demographic, economic, and political topics, with particular emphasis on the dynamics of phenomena. The review concludes that the atlas serves as a valuable geographic reference but introduces little novelty in cartographic techniques.

R. Gerard Ward

Reviews New Zealand Atlas. Edited by Ian Wards. Government Printer, Wellington, 1976. xv, 292 pp. N.Z. price: $33. THIS is an impressive but disappointing volume. It is more than an atlas, with one-quarter of its space devoted to photographs and one-third to text. The Government Printer has printed, bound and published the volume with great care and attention to detail. The double page maps open completely flat; the photographs are striking; the maps informative and, in one case, beautiful. The first section consists of six 'sectional maps' at I : 1,000,000 scale showing elevation, settlements, roads, rivers and lakes. Although clear and legible, the yellow tones used for elevation are garish and unattractive and the blue shading for icefields and glaciers (not shown on Ruapehu) makes the core of the Southern Alps look like a chain of lakes surrounded by higher country. Each sectional map is accompanied by a brief descriptive text. Maps of the main urban centres (scale 1:125,000) are followed by thematic maps with associated texts of the whole country. These cover a conventional range of topics —- discovery, historical settlement, population, landforms (the most beautiful map in the volume), climate, geology, soils, land classification and use, fishing, mineral resources, manufacturing, transport and communications, and tourist resources. The last is a singularly uninformative and unattractive perspective diagram, better suited to a tourist pamphlet than a serious work. The main body of the atlas ends with sections on Antarctica, the Pacific Islands, fifty-two pages of photographs, gazetteers and index. The second atlas of its genre published by the Government Printer, this volume invites comparison with A Descriptive Atlas of New Zealand, published in 1959. It is a more lavish production but not greatly different in concept or content. The new atlas has more colour maps but fewer maps in total. When comparing the two atlases one is struck by the elegance and delicacy of many maps in the older volume. The new atlas uses much stronger colours which are sometimes visually clearer but often lack the logic of older colour conventions. For example, the map of 'Vegetation circa 1840' gives a visual impression of Canterbury's short tussock (aqua green) being a much heavier cover than the forests of Westland (yellow), or the tall tussock of Otago and Southland (pale pink). The new maps of towns are less detailed than those in the old atlas, having omitted many streets and replaced contours with hill shading. Why not have contours as well ? The Shell Road Map booklet using annotated airphoto mosaics of the main cities is much more informative. The texts of both atlases are authorative though some contributions in the new volume read like government annual reports — factual and uncritical state93 94 REVIEWS ments of bland government publicity which allow, as Curnow says, 'no murderers mooring in our Golden Bay". The Anglo-Maori Wars are overlooked in seven lines; the social tensions of a multiracial society are wished away with comments 011 encouraging equality of opportunity and how 'exceptionally intelligent' the Maori were. Haven't claims of differential intelligence between racial groups been thoroughly discredited? A considerable number of minor errors, omissions and puzzles can be found. Jamaica, fourteen years after independence, is shown as a colony of the United Kingdom (p. 47). Does New Zealand really import cork from Fiji (p. 181)? (Fiji's export statistics do not list it.) North America is not a country (p. 173). The important Fijian town of Ba is omitted in favour of a neighbouring village (Nailaga) and the old towns of Navua and Levuka are missing from a map which mis-spells Qamea and Qoma (p. 193). Mis-spellings (e.g. of Samamea and Sataoa) occur in the Western Samoa map (p. 193) and much less information is conveyed on this map than on its 1959 equivalent. The 'Patterns of Settlement' map implies that 45,413 'Polynesians' entered New Zealand between 1950 and 1971, but this is the number of 'Pacific Islanders' (other than Fijians) resident in New Zealand in 1971 and not the number of migrants. About 15,000 of the 45,413 were born in New Zealand and therefore are not migrants. Furthermore...