EXPLOITING GERMAN MINES IN SPITZBERGEN

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 8, 4 October 1918, Page 5

EXPLOITING GERMAN MINES IN SPITZBERGEN

EXPEDITION UNDER SIR ERNEST SHAOEELTON., ■

V London', October 2. A British expedition has seized tho German mines hi {Spitsbergen, and is exploiting them in the Allies' interests, oil' Ernest Shackcltbn commanded this ■force, and Lieutenant AVild remains in charge of tho opera tions. (Rec. October 8, 7.30 p.m.) London, October '2. AH the leaders of tEc British expedition to Spitzbergen report rich deposits of coal and injn, which will be developed by the British—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. BRITISH FLAG HOISTED. (Rec, October 3, 7.30 p.m.) , Copenhagen, October 2. / Tho/British flag has been hoisted at Ebelhaft Harbour, Spitzbergen, where tho Gorman wireless was destroyed.— lleuter. [Sir Ernest Shackleton was in London ill May preparng for,the expedition mentioned in tlie above cablegram. He bad returned from South America, where ho had been sent by the Imperial Government on a special 'mission at the close of his Antarctic enterprise in 1917. Tho ■ famous explorer was gazotted a major in the Imperial Army, and given tlie task of organising the expedition, to Spitzbergen, whero the Germans were believed to be makng ■use still of the mineral deposits they had begun to exploit before' the war. Ho secured a ship suitable for work in tlie icefields, and gathered around him a strong company, ' including several members of his Antarctic Expedition. Lieutenant Frank Wild, R.N.R., who had been second in command in the Antarctic, was second in command of the Spitzbergen expedition. Spdtzbergen is a group of Arctic islands, 400 miles north of Norway. The whole group is icebound, and highly ' picturesque, but has few natural resources. A ton-foot seam of coal was found under 40ft. of fossil ice and 20ft. of rock, and this was first worked in 1900. Spitzbergen is a neutral territory, which has been jointly adminstered since 1912 by Russia, Norway, and Sweden. The question of administration having been brought to a head by the development of tho mining ' industry, other minerals besides coal have also been worked.]