NO MONOPOLY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1384, 9 March 1912, Page 5

NO MONOPOLY.

SECRECY EXPLAINED. INTERESTING STATEMENT BY DR. NAX.SEN. The London "Times" of April 2G, 1911, published tlic following article:— In an interesting letter which wo publish to-day, ])i\ Nauscn discusses the expedition of Captain Amundsen to tho Antarctic regions, and gives us in the explorer's own words his reasons for undertaking it. Dr. Nausea understands that Captain Amundsen lias been blamed in the English press for not having given notice of his intention to go south when every one expected him (o go A'ortU, and adds that some people arc even disposed to think his action unfair. A change of plan so siulden and apparently inexplicable could not but cause surprise. But while surprise was natural and inevi; table, and was rjuitc as general in other countries as in this, Dr. Nanseu would bo entirely in error it ho supposed that public opinion in this country charged Captain Amundsen, who mnrto a very favourable impression upon those of us who had the pleasure of meeting him, with doing anything dishonourable or unfair in entering upon ground of which no one has any monopoly. The President of the .Royal Geographical Society expressed the English view with great exactness when he declared about three weeks ■ ago,"that.no,,cx[)lo,ri>r obtains any vested right merely by exploration, and that all foreign competition in the Antarctic region should l>o welcomed lrhcrovcr it might appear." Only after that explicit declaration did ho mention 'his "regret that Captain Amundsen did not "give an opportunity for discussing his Antarctic proposals before he left Europe for the South." There is, therefore, no need to defend the Norwegian explorer from any charge of unfair intrusion, while, on the uther hand, the explanation of the secrecy attending his movements now given by Dr. Nansen is.both welcome and interest ing. Wo learn that when in the' autumn of 1909 news arrived of tho journeys of Cook and Peary in tho Arctic regions, it became clear fo Captain Amumlssn that tho wind was taken out of his sails. Ho came to the conclusion, which wns afterwards justified by events, that there was no longer any chance of obtaining the rest of the money, some- nine thousand pounds, needed for the long _ Arctic voyage ho was then contemplating. Change of Plans. He never thought of abandoning his object, but ho saw that ho would have to change his plans. To reach tho South Pole was, in his viow, the only bit of Polar exploration left of a kind sufficiently spectacular and sensational to reawaken public interest and bring him tho money ho needed. Though not in possession of funds for a voyage of fivo years or so, such as he contemplated in the Arctic regions, ho thought himself sufficiently equipped to nuiko a dash for the South Pole, in tho hops that he would by success in that direction obtain funds to carry out his original intentions. But he seems to have had no hope of obtaining the consent of his friends and supporters, so ho kept his plans secret, and started ostensibly for the North Pole via Capo Horn and Bchring's Straits, and told no ouo of his real intentions until ho reached Madeira last August. If those who found the money do not object fo (Ins diversion of it to. purposes they had not contemplated, we do not know that anyono else has much concern with tho mailer. When he communicated his plans to Dr. Nansen, ho expressed his regret that he could not havo informed Captain Scoll. and declared his intention not to land near the English expedition, saying "they of-course have the first right, and we shall have to bo content with what they leave us." They have left plenty of room, for tho South Pole is a long way from (ho open eea in every direction. So far as can be understood from rather vague messages, the bases of the English and Norwegian expeditions are in fact a long way apart, and their routes to tho Polo must bo totally distinct, although they havo met and exchanged courtesies. Wo can only hope that both will reach the goal, reaping by tho way observations of all kinds which must be quite different and will usefully supplement one another.