THE SOUTH POLE.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1386, 12 March 1912, Page 4

THE SOUTH POLE.

Nobody will grudge Captain Amundsen* the honour he has won by his successful clash for the South Pole. He has fairly earned it, he has added incidentally, and perhaps very valuably, to the scientific knowledge of Antarctica, and he will, no doubt, in pursuance of his previously expressed intention, use his achievement as a means of enabling him to carry out his project of exploration in the regions about the opposite Pole. Of course, New Zealanders, as well as English people, would have liked Captain Scott to have reached the South Pole, first, and even now it is possible that he may have done so. Captain Amundsen himself says he hopes Captain Scott has reached the Pole and he generously admits that Captain Scott may have got there first. Certainly, the Norwegian explorer talk's like a sportsman, and what is more he has acted like one. Instead of using the route previously explored by Sir Ehnest Shackleton, as Captain Scott was naturally expected to do, he fixed his base 400 piles from that of his British rival and struck southward along a line of his own. The fine spirit thus shown was - rewarded by extremely good luck Tho weather, notwithstanding the rigours that delayed the party four days on the brink of the great plateau and the furious blizzard that smote them soon afterwards, was on the whole extraordinarily favourable. The previously untried route across the ice proved easier than Shackleton's, and during some of the later stages, the journey, according to Captain Ajiuxdsen himself, "resembled a pleasure; trip" and "everything went like a dance." It was doubtless partly owing-to these favouring circumstances, as well as to the bold spirit, fine physique, and suitable equipment, of the party, that they were able to put up a record for speedy Antarctic travel. In fact, Captain Amundsen's narrative makes it appear that discovering Poles is quite easy—if one only knows how to do it. To know, how is the whole problem. By knowledge, some of the dangers have been eliminated, and all of them have been reduced. So, too, all the hardships are mitigated. The polar cold is tolerable to men who are suitably housed, clothed, and fed. The methods of travel and transport are a matter of knowledge drawn from experience. Thus Scott used ponies, Shackleton had a, specially designed motor-car, and Amundsen, profiting by their trials, decided that dogs would do very well for him. Knowledge alone is hardly sufficient even for Scott 3 and Shackletoxs and Ajiundsens. We take it that the Antarctic weather is generally hostile to the hopes of the explorer, but in some infrequent years can be caught napping. Obviously, polar expeditions being few and far between, the chance is small that any particular adventurer will strike a lucky season. This appears to be what Amundsen has done. No other theory could cover the facts concerning the temperatures and the.ice conditions. Amundsen avoided the lines of march of ShackljETON and Scott, but it was impossible for him to forbear to benefit from their experiences, and he woiild undoubtedly he the first to admit that other men laboured, and he has entered into their labours. When everything is known and considered, it may be found that Amundsen's achievement is not a more brilliant work than Scott's effort of 1902, when he got four degrees nearer the Polo than any of his predecessors, or Shackleton's dash in 1906, when he went six degrees further than Scott, and left only two degrees, or 111 miles, for the finder of the Pole. But this is Amundsen's hour, he has done magnificently, he deserves his success and the heartiest congratulations should be accorded him.