ANTARCTIC LAND

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21415, 6 March 1935, Page 10

ANTARCTIC LAND

* AMERICA'S TERRITORIAL CLAIMS ADMIRAL BYRD EXPLAINS (PRESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.) DUNEDIN, March 5. Some misunderstanding appears to have arisen with respect to the statement made by Admiral Byrd in reference to territorial rights on the Antarctic Continent, through which the impression has been gained that the United States has no intention of making a claim over any territory in the South Polar region. Admiral Byrd stated to-day that what he intended to convey was that there was no possibility of America asserting rights over land within the Ross dependency, which has always been recognised as British terri.ory. "Although this American expedition," he said, "is the only on-j which has seen much of the territory in the vicinity of Little America, we do not propose to make any claims over land in the Ross dependency, in which Little America is situated. In other words, we have throughout recognised the right put forward by the British Empire. The only claims we make are those over territory beyond the 150 th Meridian, and they concern areas which have never been seen by representatives of any other nation but the United States. These areas are of no practical value and of interest only from a scientific point of view. In serving 20 branches of science in this expedition, we feel that we have been serving the interests of other nations as well as of our own, for science knows no boundaries."