GEORGE V. LAND.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1685, 27 February 1913, Page 5

GEORGE V. LAND.

BRITAIN'S NEW TERRITORY IN .. ANTARCTICA. . ' MAWSON'S" MESSAGE. By Teleerapb—Press Association—Copyrielit Melbourne, February 2G. f Lord -Dinman; the Governor-General; has received a wireless message from Dr. jlawson. . It came from the Commonwealth Bay winter quarters of the expedition, via Macquarie and Hobart, and reads:—' ■ ■ "The sledging season was successful in opening up a large area of new land east and :west of Commonwealth Loy, and obtaining important data ,2t a ( number of tli'e stations in close proximity to the magnetic pole. Probably six of the staff and myself will be de- j • tainedhere for.another year. .Unfor-, tunately,-Lieut. Ninni9 and Dr. Mertz both lost their lives. ' All the others are alive and well. Please oommunicate the following, message to King George:— ■ ~ As leader of the Australasian . Ant-, ( arctic expedition, I take the oppor-. 1 tunity of the first regular wireless communication between our m&in Antarctic base and other portions of Your ~ajesty's Dominions, to request'permission to name a large area of newly-discovered land "King George V Land." It lies between Victoria Land and Adelie Land. Our. most willing . efforts have been concentrated upon it." Lord Denman dispatched the message to the King, and replied to Dr. Mawson, deploring the calamity that had befallen the expedition. AURORA MAY BE LATE. PROFESSOR DAVID BE VIEWS THE POSITION. ' Sydney, February 20. - Professor David ; says that no apprehension need be felt for Dr.- MaXvson's puity while wintering, since they have an excellent hut. Polar expeditions of'this kind always land one year's more food than they aro likely to require; in order to provide for contingencies. The «ord "probably" in the message implies that there.is stillja good chanco of tho Aurora being able to bring Mawson and party off on her return yoyage from Mr. Wild's base. Anytfay, the return of tho Aurora to Australia, will probably be a little Liter than was anticipated, as it may be; del la-yed in attempting to reach land kgain'' at ■ Dr. Mawson's winter' quarters. Professor David adds:' "It has not been possible to obtain any, news, of Wild' 6 party. Mr. Wild is a very able leader. 1 Howas Shackleton's. right-hand man during the dash for' the Pole. ' Wild's party totals eight, Mawson's' (including Ninnis and'Mertz) eighteen. Five other remained at Macquarie Island. .. UNAVOIDABLY DETAINED,./ : PROFESSOR MASSON'S OPINION.; By Telegraph—Press : Associaiioh—Copyright : ~(Rec. February 26, 10.3(Tp.m.) .. Melbourne,.. February 2(1. .. .Professor Masson.considers,tlie..iaforma-; tion from Dr. Mawson is fio meagre :; that wo can only guess at what happened. Dr. Alaijrson's words "unavoidably detained" 'may mean that' Dr .; Jlawson finds work todo and that'must be done, or that he and his companions ; were not on the spot wheji the Aurora called to pick them up, and , the ve.ssel"had to push on to get .Wild's party. If Dr. Mawson's party was missed in ( tlii9 way, possibly the .Aurora will return for, them. Dr. Mertz was a Swiss expert on skis, and Dr. Mawson depended i on him to tench; the others' 'to'-'Ski, AN EXPLORER'S SON.LIEUTENANT NINNIS. . ' ' -'i (Rec. February .26, 9.5 p.m.) ■ London, February 26. Lieut.'Ninnfs's father was the iißturalist of the South Australian surveying expedition'of 1864 to : the Northern TeSritory. He was also a member of Nave's Arctic! Expedition of 1875. . ' ' ' "THE TIMES'" TRIBUTE. ■ : J , ■ (Rec. February 26, 11.30 p.m.) . London, February 26.. • "The Times" says there is - universal regret atnhe deaths of Lieut. Ninnis and Drr Mertz, whose work was interlocked with the very raison d'etre of the,expedition. ' ,