ANTARCTICA TOO COLD.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1116, 2 May 1911, Page 5

ANTARCTICA TOO COLD.

■ 1 JAPANESE EXPLORERS RETURN UNEXPECTED ARRIVAL IN SYDNEY. NO LANDING EFFECTED. By Telegraph—Pres3 Association-Copyrteht (Rec. May 1, 11.45 p.m.) Sydney, May 1. Shipping circles were astonished by the arrival late this afternoon of the Japanese Antarctic exploring ship Kwai-nan-Maru, which recently left Nov.' Zealand in an attempt to locate the South Pole. The officers of tho vessel are reticent, but an interviewer managed to learn that they had reached Coulman Island, which is well within tho Antarctic Circle, and lies off tho coast of Victoria Land, and about 350 milos north of Mount Erebus. The party remained four days in the vicinity of the island, but as they had lost ten of their eleven dogs through sickness and cold, they did not land, and decided to return to Sydney. It was stated that the expedition would mako another attempt on the South Pole later. SHIRASE AND HIS PARTY, THE EXPEDITION'S PROGRAMME. The Japanese Antarctic expedition in the three-masted auxiliary schooner Kwai-nan-Maru ("boat to open tho south") arrived in Wellington on I'ebruary S, and soiled on February 11 for Antarctica after taking in bunker coal and provisions. The expedition, which was under the command of Lieutenant V. Shirase, of tho Japanese Navy, consisted of 27 men all told. These included Mr. Takeda Terutaro, formerly a teacher in the Fifth Higher School, who will interest himself in a meteorological survey of the land traversed and its natural products, and Mr. Ivurino Telsuzo, an instructor in the commercial department of the Waseda University, who was to take photographic records of astronomical phenomena in the lone white land. They were all said to bo keen on the work in hand, and informed the Consul that they had tho highest hopes of success in their undertaking. • Though it was not a Government expedition, the State had given .a substantial aid, and the vojagcrs had been accorded an enthusiastic farewell in Japan, when the liopo was expressed that Shirase and his men would succeed in planting the Banner of the Flaming Sun on the southernmost point in the world. The Party's Plans. Before leaving Japan Lieutenant Shiraso made a statement in ths conrso of which he said that the party would call in at Wellington for coal and supplies, and after covering the 2172 miles of Southern Ocean hoped to reach King Edward VII Land about, the middle of February. After the shore party landed, the vessel would return to Wellington as it was considered too dangerous to permit of her wintering off the barrier. The members of the expedition, after making themselves as comfortable as circumstances would. permit, would engage in exploration work during the ensuing seven months, and make their big effort to reach the Pole in the middle_ of Seotember next over the intervening 900 miles. They estimated that this trip would tako about 155 days. The Ivwai-nan-Maru, it was originally planned, would. leave Wellington _ again for the base late this year, and pick up the party in February, return to Wellington, and proceed to Japan, via Sydney. . Sealskins or Science? In a recent article on tho Tolar expeditions, the Melbourne "Argus" said "There seems considerable doubt in regard to Shirase's purpose. His . party kept quiet as to intentions—the Japanefo mind is full of these ostentatious reticences, which may mean a great deal, aud may mean nothing at all. But tho reports from Sydney made mention of large tanks or vats in the hold. Dr. Mawson, before ho left for England, spoke about these tanks. Ho was of opinion that the Japanese, whether they wore out for the Pole or tho sake of science or not, were certainly out for sealskins. The seals are there on' tho edges of Antarctica, and one species yields finer fur than even tho Northern fur seal. Upon those islands stringing out towards the Horn from the end of Graham's Land they were killed in huge numbers, but, according to the way of the seal, they grew aware of the danger of these haunts, and one year when the sealers came the seals were gone. They are not extinct, but have found some new breeding ground somewhere along that 10,000 miles of rock and ice. Lieutenant Shirase's party may not be above adding money to glory. He has with him sledges and dogs, and that looks like Polar exploration/' A Sublime Undertaking. Speaking at the departure of the expedition from Japan, Count Okuma, nresident of the society backing tho undertaking, said that the heroic enterprise of Lieutenant Shirase was a more sublime and greater undertaking in tho interests of science than the action of a brave man who stood up with a sword in his hand. Such a heroic enterprise was unprecedented in tho annals of Japan, and it would infinitely elevate the spirit of tho Japanese people and influence them ill a favourable direction. Lieutenant Shirase's action was not an empty bombastic example of grandiloquence, but was the firing of the shell itself. This shot would awake the indolent nation from its slumber, and inspire it with alertness and vigour. The profound faith of tho lieutenant would not fail to crown him with success in the exploration. He (the speaker), in common with the people assembled, would bid good-bye to the heroic lieutenant and his party, and hoped to welcome the party at the head of Shinagawa Bay on their triumphant return. Liontenant Shirase and Captain Nomura, master of the Kwai-nan-Maru, thanked the Japanese people for the support given them, and assured those present that they would not fail to accomplish their object.