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New Zealand Soil Bureau (1936-1992 ) was a division of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research specializing in soil-related research and development. Originally formed as the 'soil survey group' of the 'Geological Survey,' they became the 'Soil Survey Division' in 1936 and 'Soil Bureau' in 1945.[1] Established adjacent to Taita College on approximately 90 acres on the Eastern Hills of Lower Hutt north of Wellington,[2] the foyer featured a large mural by Ernest Mervyn Taylor depicting a cloaked figure using a kō (Māori digging stick).[3] Soil Bureau completed nationwide soil surveys of New Zealand.
The impetus for forming a separate unit related to soil science was work in the 1930s by Leslie Grange and Norman Taylor which showed a correspondence between soil type and bush sickness in cattle, which led to the discovery that ash-based soils in the central North Island were Cobalt deficient and that cobalt-enriched salt licks could open up tens of thousands of acres to dairy farming.[4]
Soil Bureau was renamed as DSIR Land Resources in 1990 and then reformed into Landcare Research in 1992 by the Crown Research Institutes Act 1992,[5] but the name remains protected under the Flags, Emblems, and Names Protection Act 1981.[6] Many Soil Bureau publications were digitised by its successor organisation.
- ^ Galbreath, Ross (1998). DSIR: Making Science Work for New Zealand. Victoria University Press. ISBN 0864733542.
- ^ Soil Bureau. New Zealand Department of Scientific and Industrial Research Information Series No. 94. 1973.
- ^ Soil Bureau. 1973.
- ^ Atkinson, J. D. (1976). DSIR's First Fifty Years.
- ^ "Crown Research Institutes Act 1992 No 47 (as at 01 February 2011), Public Act Contents – New Zealand Legislation". Legislation.govt.nz. 1 February 2011. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
- ^ "Flags, Emblems, and Names Protection Act 1981 No 47 (as at 07 July 2010), Public Act 20 Unauthorised use of certain commercial names – New Zealand Legislation". Legislation.govt.nz. 7 July 2010. Retrieved 10 March 2013.