Since the advent of echo-soundings, an enormous amount of information has become available regarding the main submarine features of the seas and oceans. Each of the major land masses is surrounded by a flat, gently sloping zone known as the Continental Shelf which extends from the coast out to a depth of 50–100 fathoms. The width of the Shelf varies from less than 1 mile up to several hundred miles, but 10–100 miles is usual. Outside the Shelf, the slope of the sea bed steepens and passes into the Continental Slope which descends relatively rapidly from the edge of the Shelf down to depths in the region of 2,000–3,000 fathoms. The average gradient on the Slope is normally much steeper than the gradient of the Shelf. At the foot of the Slope, the seaward gradient flattens out, sometimes abruptly, into the Ocean Basin. This is a wide, undulating, but relatively flat zone lying at 2,000–3,000 fathoms and covering most of the central parts of the major oceans.

The surface of the Shelf, which is dominantly flat, is diversified only by local banks and reefs, but the Slope is more irregular, being cut in many areas by the large marine valleys known as submarine canyons. These tend to occur in Slope areas of relatively steep gradient and generally run from the edge of the Shelf to the foot of the Slope. The canyons may reach a width of 5–10 miles, and the bottom of a canyon may reach a depth of 500 fathoms below the general level of the Slope on either side. In a few areas the Slope is also diversified by ridges and basins running more or less parallel to its trend.

The monotony of the ocean floor is diversified in many places by the presence of the Oceanic Ridges, submarine mountain ranges up to several hundred miles in width, several thousand miles in length, and rising from the level of the surrounding ocean floor to depths of only 1,500–1,000 fathoms or less. In other parts of the ocean there occur “seamounts”, isolated submarine mountains which rise from the ocean floor to within a few hundred fathoms of the surface. These seamounts may be as much as 20–30 miles across at the base, and the sides of a seamount usually have quite gentle gradients.

Another important but localised group of features lying at intermediate depths are the “continental borderlands”. These occur near to or immediately adjoining continental blocks, and include a series of broad submarine plateaux and ridges, 100–500 miles wide and lying at depths of 200–800 fathoms, together with intervening depressions. Some of these features have smooth surfaces, but others are irregular with numerous subsidiary banks and basins.

The greatest depths in the ocean are not found over wide areas of the ocean floor, but are concentrated in the Trenches which are large elongated depressions 50–150 miles wide and up to several hundred miles long. The Trenches, which occur mainly in the Pacific Ocean and are located along various parts of the periphery of the Ocean Basin, may descend to depths over 2,000 fathoms below the general level of the nearby ocean floor. The greatest depth recorded to date, the Challenger Deep (5,940 fathoms), occurs in the Mariana Trench. This deep was discovered in 1951 by H.M.S. Challenger II.

Sea anemones are a group of the Coelenterata which appear as blobs of jelly-like substance on rocks beneath the water. They depend on food swept towards them by currents of water. Each animal has a simple body cavity, with one opening which serves for taking in food and ejecting waste products.

The mouth of a sea anemone is a fleshy opening in the centre of a circle of tentacles and it leads into the stomach, which usually occupies about a third of the bulk of the body. Below the stomach there are a number of radiately arranged cavities. Anemones, despite their harmless flower-like appearance, are voracious animals. They use the tentacles to ensnare and sting their victims preparatory to swallowing them whole. Indigestible parts are later disgorged. The food of anemones consists of any small fishes, shrimps, and shellfish which come within range of the tentacles.

The red sea anemone (Actinia tenebrosa) is our most abundant and widely distributed sea anemone, easily recognised by its deep red colour. There are many other New Zealand species but their identification is difficult.

by Arthur William Baden Powell, Assistant Director, Auckland Institute and Museum.

Since the biological processes are so complex and (in a chemical sense) inefficient, it is very difficult to estimate with any certainty how much food can be drawn, for example, from the waters around New Zealand. We do know, however, that the most productive waters are the shallow ones, that is, the waters less than 100 fathoms forming the Continental Shelf. This is because the plants need both light (from the surface) and minerals (from the shore or the sea bottom), and conditions are ideal only when both are close together. Some waters are more productive because an up-welling from the deep brings nutrients to the surface. There is one such region extending up the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. Unfortunately, this coast is stormy with few good harbours so that it is difficult for scientists to study or for fishermen to work. But these waters do produce vast quantities or “blooms” of diatoms and the “primary” production on some days is thousands of times greater than that in average ocean waters. Whether these blooms provide food for any useful species of fish is not known, though we do know that without them there would be no toheroas on west coast beaches.

Today there is a gathering interest in mid-ocean fisheries. While the deep waters of the Pacific do not contain much concentrated fish food, large and powerful swimmers like the tunas are able to range over vast areas for their meals, so that the production of many square miles of ocean may thus be concentrated in one compact school of fish. In these regions fish have harvested the plankton far more efficiently than would be possible by man, and it is always a good idea to let nature do the work for us.

by Richard Morrison Cassie, M.SC.(N.Z.), D.SC.(AUCK.), Senior Lecturer in Zoology, University of Auckland.

The sea may be looked upon as a vast farm from which the human race may draw foodstuffs such as fish, crayfish, shellfish, and seaweeds. All the elements of a farm are to be found: the soil bacteria, the pastures, the animals which live on the pastures. The main differences from a farm lie, first, in man's inability to “improve” it by any such means as adding fertilisers or breeding stock, and, secondly, in the relative complexity of its structure. The fertilisers, that is, the essential minerals such as nitrates and phosphates, come from the land in rivers, from the sea bed by the action of waves, currents, and up-wellings, or from the living organisms themselves when they die and are broken down by bacteria. The plants include the seaweeds around the shore, but far more important are the tiny single-celled plant plankton or phytoplankton. Most of these plants live near the surface, in the first 100 ft or so, because, like other plants, they require light. They also possess the green pigment, chlorophyll, which enables them to use the light energy from the sun to build the complex organic compounds of which their bodies are made. The building materials are inorganic compounds of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and many other elements in smaller quantities. Various attempts have been made to determine the primary production of the sea, that is, the amount of plant material which is formed in a given time. The Danish Galathea expedition which visited New Zealand in 1952 added radioactive carbon to small samples of water all over the world and, by means of a geiger counter, found how much of this made its way into plant tissue. From this they estimated that 40,000 million tons of organic matter were manufactured in the oceans of the world during a year. Many scientists do not accept this figure, but all agree that the amount is very large.

On a farm the crop is immediately edible by man, or else is eaten by the cattle or sheep which in turn are eaten, so that there are only one or two life stages between inorganic material and human food. But it is rare for humans to eat the sea plants or even plant-eating animals. There are, however, a few exceptions such as certain seaweeds (which, for example, form an important ingredient in ice cream), the toheroa, and yellow-eyed mullet, (or herring), both of which live mainly on phytoplankton. In general, however, the phytoplankton are eaten directly by small zooplankton. Neither is really an attractive item of food, nor very readily harvested in large quantities. As many, however, are edible, it is possible that perhaps one day we will find a use for them. For instance, the tiny crab larvae which sometimes occur in enormous numbers in the Hauraki Gulf are quite palatable when fried in batter. Usually, however, several stages in the food chain must be passed before a fish suitable for the table emerges. The diatom is eaten by a copepod, the copepod by a pilchard, and the pilchard by a kahawai or a hapuku. Again, the chain might be dinoflagellate-pipi-snapper-shark, though most people would prefer to stop at the snapper stage. Sometimes the process may take a step backward in the size scale, as when a large fish dies and is eaten by crabs, or is partly broken down by bacteria to become food for starfish or heart urchins, in turn to be again devoured by snapper. All of this is very inefficient since animals cannot synthesise organic material but only “burn” it, and every new step in the food cycle represents wastage of the original plant material.

(1921–).

Rugby footballer.

SCOTT, Robert William Henry (“Bob”) (1921– ).

“Bob” Scott was born at Wellington on 6 February 1921 and educated there. During the Second World War he spent four years with the New Zealand Forces in the Middle East. He first distinguished himself as a footballer in the New Zealand Services team which toured Britain and Europe in 1945–46. Scott represented New Zealand in the 1946, 1947, 1949, 1950, and 1953–54 All Blacks, playing 52 matches in which he scored 242 points for his side. He is rightly regarded as one of the “great” fullbacks of the game. He is the author, with T. P. McLean, of Bob Scott on Rugby (1955 and 1959) and The Bob Scott Story (1956).

(1861–1930).

Professor of engineering.

A new biography of Scott, Robert Julian appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Scott was born in Plymouth on 14 September 1861, eldest son of Rear-Admiral R. A. G. Scott, RN, and cousin of Captain Robert Falcon Scott, the Antarctic explorer. He was educated at the Abbey School, Beckenham, Kent, and at the Royal School of Mines. He was a premium apprentice in England and served his time with the London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway. Scott came out to New Zealand and entered the Railway Drawing Office, becoming chief draughtsman in Wellington. He was transferred to Christchurch as locomotive draughtsman and, later, became manager of the Addington Workshops where he designed new types of locomotives and wagons. In 1880 he designed and built the first motorcar in Australasia, a 35 h.p. steam buggy, and in the following year designed the first insulated railway truck for carrying frozen meat. He also prepared specifications and drawings for the first locomotive built in New Zealand.

Scott began to take evening classes at Addington before he lectured at Canterbury College. He was appointed part-time lecturer in mechanical engineering at Canterbury College on 1 November 1887, where his class attracted 68 students. In November 1889 a School of Engineering and Technical Science was established and Scott was appointed lecturer-in-charge at a salary of £550. An additional wing was added to the east wing of the main Canterbury College Building to house the new school. In 1894 he was appointed professor-in-charge of the School of Engineering.

Scott took many students at evening classes, most of whom were apprentices at Anderson's Foundry or P. and D. Duncan's. These firms encouraged their apprentices to attend. When he resigned on 28 February 1923, his school was recognised as equal to the best of similar institutions in the British Dominions, and its prestige has been maintained. The chairman of the Canterbury College Board once said: “It was due to his personality and vigour that the School has obtained the pre-eminence that it holds.”

Scott was a member of the University Senate from 1903 to 1923 and acted as chairman of commissions which sat on technical railway questions. He was an enthusiastic yachtsman and designed and raced his own yachts.

In appearance Professor Scott was striking – a man of enormous bulk with a very large head and features which bespoke his strong personality. Clothes hung loosely on his great frame. He possessed what is known as “the quarter-deck manner”, and whenever he sat down to a meal he helped himself on a gargantuan scale.

He married, on 22 October 1889, Gertrude Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Sir Charles Bowen; she died in June 1909. Scott died at Christ-church on 8 November 1930.

by George Ranald Macdonald, Retired Farmer, Kaiapoi R.D.

• History of Canterbury College, Hight, J., and Candy, A. M. F. (1927)
• Press (Christchurch), 10 Nov 1930 (Obit).

SCOTT, Robert William Henry (“Bob”) (1921– ). Rugby footballer.

“Bob” Scott was born at Wellington on 6 February 1921 and educated there. During the Second World War he spent four years with the New Zealand Forces in the Middle East. He first distinguished himself as a footballer in the New Zealand Services team which toured Britain and Europe in 1945–46. Scott represented New Zealand in the 1946, 1947, 1949, 1950, and 1953–54 All Blacks, playing 52 matches in which he scored 242 points for his side. He is rightly regarded as one of the “great” fullbacks of the game. He is the author, with T. P. McLean, of Bob Scott on Rugby (1955 and 1959) and The Bob Scott Story (1956).

(1851–1914).

Professor of anatomy and Dean of the Medical School, University of Otago.

A new biography of Scott, John Halliday appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

John Scott was born in Edinburgh on 28 December 1851, the son of Andrew Scott, a Writer to the Signet in Edinburgh. He was educated at the Edinburgh Institution and at the University of Edinburgh where he graduated in medicine in 1874. In 1877 he took his M.D., winning the gold medal for his thesis on The Nervous System of the Dog. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1879. For six months he served as a house surgeon under Professor Spence at the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh, and for a similar period at the Royal Infirmary, Stirling. He then embarked on a career in anatomy by joining the staff of the Department of Anatomy in the University of Edinburgh under Professor Sir William Turner, where he worked for 18 months, resigning to come to New Zealand as Professor of Anatomy and Physiology. He arrived in Dunedin in July 1877 at the age of 26. He found a small struggling school inadequately financed, staffed, and housed. He proceeded with great determination and an inflexible sense of duty for the next 37 years to guide and largely control a policy of development which culminated in a modern medical school. For 28 years he taught both anatomy and physiology with no professional assistance, and on the appointment of a Professor of Physiology in 1905, continued to teach anatomy until his death. He was also Dean of the Medical Faculty, a member of the Hospital Trustees, University Council, and of the New Zealand University Senate. His research interests were in anthropology; he collected a large range of osteological material and published in 1893 a monograph which remains the most authoritative statement on the subject.

Professor Scott had considerable artistic gifts and he was a water-colour painter of distinction. He was the honorary secretary of the Otago Art Society from 1881 until his death. He was a member of the Otago Institute, acting both as secretary and as president.

His character was such as to endear him to all who were honoured by his friendship. He was a man of transparent honesty and was held in high esteem by his colleagues, his students, and the community. His reputation as a teacher of anatomy was widely recognised throughout the British Empire. He demanded efficiency and exercised sound discipline.

In January 1883, at Cheltenham, England, he married Helen Gardner, a daughter of John Bealey, an early settler in Canterbury. Of his five children, three sons and two daughters, two of his sons qualified in medicine and practised in New Zealand.

He died at his post on 25 February 1914, leaving as his living memorial the Otago University Medical School.

by Charles Ernest Hercus, KT., D.S.O., O.B.E., U.D., M.B. CH.B.(N.Z.), M.D., D.P.H., B.D.S., F.R.C.P., F.R.A.C.P., F.R.A.C.S., Emeritus Professor, University of Otago.

• Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute, 26: 1–64 (1893), “Contribution to the Osteology of the Aborigines of New Zealand and the Chatham Islands”, Scott, J. H.
• Medical Practice in Otago and Southland in the Early Days, Fulton, R. V. (1922)
• Annals of the University of Otago Medical School, 1875–1939, Carmalt Jones, D. W. (1945)
• The Otago Medical School Under the First Three Deans, Hercus, C. E., and Bell, F. G. (1964).

(1891–1963).

Pioneer aviator.

James William Humphrys Scotland was born on 21 September 1891 at Pahi, in the Kaipara district, North Auckland, the second son of Henry Scotland (1821–1910) M.L.C. and of Mary Ann, née Spriggs. He was educated at King's College, Auckland, and in England where he became interested in aviation and gained his pilot's certificate – the second New Zealander to do so, the first being J. J. Hammond of Auckland. He obtained considerable flying experience in England and America before returning to New Zealand where he joined New Zealand Aviation Ltd. and gave aerial exhibitions in various centres. Early in 1914, partly in order to popularise aviation and partly as a commercial venture, this company arranged for Scotland to make a series of cross-country flights from Invercargill northwards, with flying displays at certain centres on the way. On 20 February 1914 Scotland flew from Invercargill to Gore, thus making the first cross-country flight in New Zealand. From Gore he made his way north, stopping at Dunedin, Timaru, and Christchurch (6 March). His flight came to an ignominious end at Wellington on 25 March when his Caudron biplane crashed at Newtown Park. Part of the wing brace of the biplane is now in the Dominion Museum, Wellington.

When the First World War broke out, Scotland returned to England and joined the R.F.C. He served in Persia for a short time before being invalided home to New Zealand. After the war he was associated with the flying school at Wigram. He continued to give flying exhibitions until the late 1920s when he settled in Melbourne, Australia, where he lived until his death in November 1963.

In recent years there has been much interest in whether Scotland carried airmail on his flight between Timaru and Christchurch. According to the Christchurch Sun, which covered the flight fully, Scotland carried two items of “mail” on this section. These were a small parcel and a letter. In Scotland's words: “Passing over Temuka I dropped a parcel for a friend of mine, Mr Andrews. There was nothing breakable in it”. The letter, which was handed to Scotland in Timaru, was delivered by him in Christchurch. In neither case was the New Zealand Post Office involved.

by Bernard John Foster, M.A., Research Officer, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington.

Not all scientific work in New Zealand is undertaken through the channels already described. There remain, in particular, certain privately endowed and otherwise financed institutions and activities. Chief amongst these is the Cawthron Institute, arising from a large bequest from Thomas Cawthron, of Nelson. Established in Nelson in 1920, its main effort has been devoted to solving problems in agriculture and horticulture of special significance to New Zealand. It now collaborates very closely with the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research.

Other privately endowed, activities have stemmed largely from a desire on the part of the community that every effort should be made to prosecute medical research with full vigour, and several active research centres in the Otago Medical School (founded 1875) are at least partly financed by private or publicly subscribed funds. These include a cancer research laboratory, initially established through the assistance of the New Zealand Branch of the British Empire Cancer Campaign and strengthened through the Hugh Adams Cancer Research Fund of the Medical School and by the Medical Research Council. In 1940 the Travis research trustees established a laboratory for the study of the intermediate metabolism of the acid-fast bacteria associated with tuberculosis, and more recently various medical research foundations have been set up in different centres to foster medical research, such as the Auckland Medical Research Foundation (1956). The Auckland Division of the British Empire Cancer Campaign Society in addition supports a research laboratory in Auckland.

The State contribution to medical research is largely channelled through the Medical Research Council, initially a Department of Health departmental committee, but since 1950 an independent authority. It maintains research units in the Medical School and generally facilitates and encourages medical investigation.

Finally, mention may be made of the continuing contribution to science of the various museums, and of some of the quasi-amateur organisations, notably in astronomy, which carry out scientific investigations, and of the fructifying influence of private and corporate gifts, particularly to the universities, for the support of full-time research.

National Expenditure on Science

It is quite impossible to draw up a precise statement of national expenditure on science, partly because of the multitudinous sources of expenditure, partly because of the difficulty of defining those activities which are to be classified under this heading. Nevertheless, a reasonable picture may be obtained from the budgets of several of the major national organisations which undertake substantial responsibilities for scientific activity.

The latest consolidated information available is that provided in the tables, taken from the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the State Services in New Zealand (Appendix 7, p. 447, Government Printer, 1962), which set out in convenient form the estimated expenditure for 1961–62 by State Departments and other agencies. A more detailed analysis of expenditure on research may be found in Scientific Research in New Zealand—Expenditure and Manpower 1953–62 (Information Series No. 41, New Zealand Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Government Printer, 1964).

by Stanley Nelson Slater, M.SC.(N.Z.), D.PHIL.(OXON.), F.R.I.C., Professor and Head of Chemistry Department, and Assistant Vice-Chancellor, Victoria University of Wellington.

• Directory of New Zealand Science, Jansen, H. (ed.), (4th ed. 1962)
• New Zealand and Science, Jenkinson, S. H. (1940)
• Science in New Zealand, Callaghan, F. R. (1957)
• New Zealand Science Review, Vol. 9 (1951), “The History of Scientific Endeavour in New Zealand”, Dick, I. D.
• Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Vol. 80 (1952), “A Retrospect and a Prospect of New Zealand Science”, Callaghan, F. R.
• Directory of New Zealand Science, ed., Jansen Henk (4th ed. 1962).

Attention has already been drawn to the peculiarly important role of scientific societies in fostering the growth of science. With the emergence of the giant technological industries of the twentieth century, and the expenditure of large sums of money on State, industrial, and institutional research, science as a career has offered attractive prospects to many able minds. This, in its turn, has meant the emergence of societies whose primary interests are in the more professional aspects of science, though it has never, in fact, meant the segregation of such interests. Taking into account also the many new fields of endeavour which derive from the historical disciplines, the pattern that emerges, particularly in the great industrial countries, is a complex one. In New Zealand the relatively small number of scientists and technologists has resulted in the scientific societies tending to take an interest in a wide spectrum of scientific and professional matters.

Royal Society

The senior body is the Royal Society of New Zealand, successor to the earlier New Zealand Institute, as constituted by the Royal Society of New Zealand Act of 1933. It functions under a Council consisting of the Minister for Scientific and Industrial Research, four members appointed by the Governor-General in Council, eight members (two per body) appointed by the Auckland, Wellington, Canterbury, and Otago member bodies, one member appointed by each of the other member bodies, the president, vice-presidents, and honorary treasurer if not otherwise members of the Council, and two members elected by the fellows of the Society. In addition the immediate past president continues as a member for one year, and provision is made for the appointment by the Council itself of any fit person. The present member bodies are the Auckland Institute, the Wellington, Canterbury, Otago, Rotorua, Hawke's Bay, Nelson, Southland, and Waikato branches, and the Geological Society of New Zealand. Provided with a continuing annual grant from the Government (£5,000), it has the responsibility of issuing the Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand and in a variety of ways plays an important part in the conduct of scientific affairs in the country – its representatives serve, for example, on such bodies as the National Parks Authority, the Board of Trustees of the National Art Gallery and Dominion Museum, the Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture, the Carter Observatory Board, the Medical Research Council, the National Historic Places Trust, the Ross Dependency Research Committee, and the Ross Sea Committee. It organises, triennially, the New Zealand Science Congress, and through its awards encourages research by tangible recognition. These awards which include the Hutton Memorial Medal, the Hector Memorial Medal and Prize, the Hamilton Memorial Prize, the T. K. Sidey Medal and Prize, and the Cooper Memorial Award, are complemented by various special grants to assist in the prosecution of research projects. Its library is also an important contribution to New Zealand's resources for study and research.

At the international level the Society accepts a number of major responsibilities, being member body for New Zealand in the International Council of Scientific Unions and the Pacific Science Association, a nominating body for the Nobel Peace Prize, the Kalinga Prize for science writing, the Walter Burfitt Medal for scientific or medical research, the Nuffield Commonwealth Bursaries Scheme, and the like. It is also a corresponding society to many senior learned societies.

Institute of Chemistry

Although numbering distinguished physical scientists amongst its fellows (who are elected on the basis of their scientific achievements), the Royal Society has always derived its chief support from those interested in the non-physical sciences. Amongst those societies whose concern is with the physical sciences the most important is the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry, a body with a very large professional membership. It is the national successor to the smaller local societies, such as the Auckland Chemical Society (founded in 1925), which preceded its formation in 1930. Following the lead of this body Professor H. G. Denham of Canterbury University College prepared a scheme which resulted, under the chairmanship and subsequent presidency of Professor W. P. Evans, in the formation of the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry, registered in 1932 as an incorporated society. It consists of the fellows and associates (with a small group of local members) organised under its Council into six branches – Auckland, Waikato, Manawatu, Wellington, Canterbury, and Otago. The elected Council consists of the president, vice-president, honorary general secretary, and one delegate from each branch. Since 1936 it has published its own journal and conducts examinations as required. Like the Royal Society, it encourages scientific endeavour in a variety of ways including the making of local awards to undergraduates and national awards to professional chemists – the Chemical Essay Prize, the I.C.I. Prize, and the Morcom Green Edwards Prize.

Association of Scientists

The New Zealand Association of Scientists (formerly the Association of Scientific Workers) was established in 1941 with the general aims of promoting the interests of scientists and securing the widest possible application of science and scientific methods. It has a wide membership, with branches at Auckland, Wellington, and Canterbury, and presents a research medal annually. It publishes the New Zealand Science Review and the invaluable Directory of New Zealand Science.

A number of smaller bodies cater for such special interests as bacteriology (the New Zealand Association of Bacteriologists), dairy science (the New Zealand Dairy Science Association), ecology (the New Zealand Ecological Society), electronics (the New Zealand Electronics Institute), entomology (the Entomological Society of New Zealand), genetics (the New Zealand Genetical Society), ornithology (the Ornithological Society of New Zealand), astronomy (the Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand), soil science (the New Zealand Society of Soil Science), and statistics (the New Zealand Statistical Association). A full list of these bodies may be found in the above-mentioned directory. Mention should be made of the very large and active New Zealand Institution of Engineers, whose interests merge with those of the more purely scientific societies.