GRASS SWARDS FOR AIRSTRIPS AND PLAYING AREAS IN AUCKLAND PROVINCE

Just on four years ago E. H. Arnold, Assistant Fields Superintendent, Department of Agriculture, Auckland, presented a paper to this Association's conference at Hamilton on the "Establishment and Maintenance of Swards on Airstrips on Farms in the Auckland Province". The survey he conducted on 132 airstrips selected at random revealed 'a very unhappy state of affairs, particularly with regard to the maintenance of a good grass sward. Within the last month or two we have seen in the daily press and national newspapers such headlines as "Ignorance Causes Dangerous Airstrips", "Lack of Care Main Fault", "Need for Improvement of Airstrips for Agricultural Aviation", "Air Accidents can be Prevented".