DASH FOR THE POLE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 956, 25 October 1910, Page 6

DASH FOR THE POLE.

CAPTAIN SCOTT'S EXPEDITION.. (By Tolcgrapb.-Special. Correspondent'.)' Auckland, October 24., ; Among the passengers who. arrived by. the Mahono from Sydney yesterday' were two gentlemen connected with Captain Scott's Antarctic expedition." These were Mr. Wyatt, who is to act as manager on behalf of the expedition in Now Zealand, and "Lieutenant Gran, of Norway, who is to accompany Captain' Scott, to the Antarctic, and is to give the members of the expedition special instruction 'in the use of skis, or snow-shoes.' These are in general uso, in Norway and Sweden, and enable the user to get over snow at an exceedingly rapid* rate. Lieutenant Gran, when interviewed by a "Herald" reporter, said lie would accompany the party, which it was.proposed should establish a depot about 8C degrees south, or four degrees from the pole, and he would then return with the party to the' main base ■, at M'Murdo Sound, where the 1911 winter wouldrbe spent, and he would there give instructions in the use of the . skis. In the Spring of 1911 the party of 16, under Captain Scott, • would ' start out' on the great journey for ,the Pole, operating from the depot established at 86 degrees south. It was, said Lieutenant Gran, still problematical whether four or eight men would make the final dash. That all depended upon the'condition of the men and other circumstances, and naturally he hoped to be among the selected few. Captain Scott proposed when the dogs'and ponies were dispensed with to accomplish tho final stage by the use of the« skis. With the skis,. explained Lieutenant Gran, it was possible to do fifteen miles an hour over rough country, and to cover seventy miles' in a day of twelve hours was . no-, unusual thing in Norway over bad country. "What, you lose in going up a hill, he said, "you make up in going down : the other side. You go faster .-down hill than even the fastest express train."