Canadian and Australian farm interest groups

It is not surprising that the organization and behaviour of farm organizations differ depending upon whether they operate in unitary or federal states or in parliamentary or congressional type environment. The question is how different or similar are they and their behaviour in states which are both federal and both parliamentary.

This article examines the variations between Australian and Canadian farm organizations and examines some of the possible explanations for them. Some of the differences stem from the origins of the organizations, others from variations in the two countries’ political institutions or their usages.     

A new fossil genus of forest wallaby (Marsupialia,Macropodinae) and a review of Protemnodon from eastern Australia and New Guinea

A new macropodine genus and species, Silvaroo bila, is described from the Pliocene Chinchilla Sand of Queensland. The generic concept of Protemnodon is reviewed, and it is concluded that two Pliocene species previously placed in that genus (bandharr and buloloensis) belong in Silvaroo. Species of Silvaroo resemble the modern forest wallabies of Papua New Guinea (species of Dorcopsis and Dorcopsulus) and also bear close phenetic resemblance to the late Miocene Dorcopsoides fossilis. Forest wallabies are not known from mainland Australia after the middle Pliocene, but occur in the late Pliocene and Pleistocene of New Guinea.     

Lecture programmes

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY

Glacial and Fluvioglacial Landforms. By R. J. Price. 10 x 7 1/2, 242 pp., 95 figures. Bibliography, index. Oliver and Boyd, 1973. £5.00.

The Coastline of Scotland. By J. A. Steers, xv + 335 pp. 9 1/2 x 6 1/2. Cambridge U.P. London, 1973. £10–50.

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Land reform: the Italian experience. By Russell King. 25.5 x 19, xv + 257 pp. 43 tables, 15 maps/diagrams, 17 plates. Butterworths, London, 1973. £8.

Economies and Societies in Latin America: a geographical interpretation. By P. R. Odell and D. A. Preston. 9x6, 265 pp., 45 maps and diagrams, 13 plates. John Wiley. London, 1973. £3.75.

Freight Flows and Spatial Aspects of the British Economy. By Michael Chisholm and Patrick O'Sullivan. 9 1/4 x 6 1/4, 11 pp., 22 figures, 36 tables. Cambridge U.P., London. 1973. £3.95.

Problems in Modern Geography: Mineral Resources. By Kenneth Warren. 8 3/4 x 5 1/2, 272 pp David and Charles, Newton Abbot, 1973. £3.95.

The Less Developed Realm: A Geography of its Population. By Glenn T. Trewartha. 9 1/4 x 6 1/4, 450 pp., numerous maps, tables and references. Index. John Wiley, Chichester. 1972. £5.75.

CARTOGRAPHY

Northern England and the Borders: Settlements 1971 and Population Change 1961–71, Local Government Units 1974. 27 x 22 inches. Prepared by the Department of Geography, University of Newcastle upon Tyne.

EDUCATIONAL

Problem Regions of Europe. Ed. D. I. Scargill. Each approx. 50 pp., illus., index. Oxford, 1973. £1.

People and Places series: Books One to Three by Michael Pollard. Macmillan Educational, 1973. 37p.

Test Books. In each case questions are related to maps. All might be used for individual . work, and all merit consideration.

Find the Place in the British Isles. By J. D. Smith. Philip 1972. 32p.

Find the Place in the World. Simple map questions.

Find the Answer Geography. By W. G. Moore. Hulton 1973. Includes pictures, climatic graphs, pie‐graphs. Pupils book and Teachers book.

Objective Tests in Geography. Macmillan 1973. Pupils books 45p and Teachers books 65p, available on Europe; Canada and Alaska; United States of America.

A Picture Mapbook of World Commodities by A. Ferriday.

A Picture Mapbook of Asia by A. Ferriday. Macmillan Education Ltd. 1972. 42p.

Contemporary Scotland (7) Fuel and Power, by John Leith. Heinemann 1973. 60p.

Focal Points in Geography: Europe and the Soviet Union. By R. A. Beddis and Brenda Dyson. 9 3/4 x 7 3/8, 80 pp. University of London Press, 85p.     

Scottish landform examples 45: Sgriob na Caillich: a landslide-sourced medial moraine on the Isle of Jura

ABSTRACT

Medial moraines deposited by former glaciers and ice sheets are rare in Scotland. The most prominent example is the Sgriob na Caillich moraine, which consists of two to four parallel belts of angular quartzite boulders that extend northwestwards for over 3.5?km from the SW flank of Beinn an Oir on the Isle of Jura. The boulder belts extend to within 300?m of the present coastline, where they are truncated by a low bluff and raised marine terrace. The source of the moraine coincides with bedrock gullies and cliffs that represent the scars of former rock-slope failure(s), indicating that the moraine debris was sourced by one or more rockfalls or rockslides onto the ice surface after Beinn an Oir had emerged from the thinning ice cover as a nunatak. Exposure dating of boulders on the moraine indicate that it formed at 16.6?±?0.8?ka, consistent with the timing of ice-sheet retreat in this sector. The alignment of the moraine indicates ice-margin retreat to the SE; as regional ice-sheet retreat across the adjacent offshore shelf was to the NE, this anomaly implies that a residual icefield became stranded on Jura during ice-sheet retreat.     

Historical Climatology and coastal change associated with the ‘Great Storm’ of January 2005, South Uist and Benbecula,Scottish Outer Hebrides

Abstract

This paper describes some of the changes that affected the coastlines of South Uist and Benbecula following the ‘Great Storm’ of 11 January 2005. The paper considers historical changes in patterns of winter storminess and addresses the issue of whether or not there has been a recent increase in regional storminess, manifested partly by this particular storm. The paper concludes on the basis of available Greenland ice core chemistry data and historical climate data, together with recent meteorological data, that no such increase has taken place. This surprising conclusion is further discussed in relation to current thinking on the nature of recent climate change.     

Using finite element methods to analyze ancient architecture: an example from the North American Arctic

Developing theories of vernacular architecture in archaeology has been hindered by the lack of a defined methodology for studying ancient buildings, and the absence of information on the mechanical properties of construction materials uncommon in today's building practices. In this paper we use Finite Element Methods and recent research on the structural properties of whalebone to analyze the architecture of Thule semi-subterranean houses. These unique dwellings were constructed and used by the ancestors of Inuit/Eskimo peoples in the Canadian Arctic and Greenland. Little is known about how they were designed and constructed because few have ever been discovered intact. The substantial weight of whalebone roof frames suggests that some designs would have performed better than others. Poorly planned houses, or the use of whalebone in a symbolic rather than strictly utilitarian capacity, may have resulted in higher maintenance costs, thereby shortening their anticipated use life. In extreme cases, errors in design, or the failure of materials may have caused dwellings to collapse, resulting in injuries or possibly even death. We demonstrate through this case study that Finite Element Methods constitutes an effective methodology for studying ancient buildings, with the proviso that more research is needed on the mechanical properties of building materials used in the past.