Recently Professor R. Legget of the University of Toronto and Chairman of the Associated Committee on Soil and Snow Mechanics of the National Research Council of Canada, accompanied by Captain M. G. Bekker of the Canadian Army and a representative of the Ministry of Supply in London, visited various centres in Switzerland where soil, snow, and ice mechanics were being studied.
Professor Legget also inspected the winter equipment of the Swiss Army.Footnote 1 Professor Legget seems to have been impressed by the perfection of detail in the Swiss equipment, as for instance the alloy snow shovel. This instrument has also been made and perfected in this country and brought to the notice of explorers.
The Canadians are no doubt ahead of the Swiss in the design and manufacture of vehicles for winter transport, but the Swiss have no need for transport over long distances in level country. However, Professor Legget, who made contact with this Society on his return to London, was impressed with the ingenuity of the Swiss approach to snow problems in general. He spoke most warmly of the reception he and his party had received. There can be no doubt that the collaboration between the Canadian, the Swiss and the English authorities will be fruitful.
