SOUTHERN ALPS

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 100, 30 April 1930, Page 4

SOUTHERN ALPS

LITTLE KNOWN COUNTRY

AN INTERESTING TALK

A.v interesting talk cm the Southern Alps wns given to members of the Red Cross j Society last evening by Mr. Arthur Hay- ■ per, president of the New Zealand Alpine ! Club. Mr. Harper began by describing the conditions under which he and hi 3 '"mate," the late Mr. C. E. Douglas, explored a large tract of unknown" country eomc 40 miles south of the Franz Josef Glacier iv 1893 uud the following years/ As a contrast to present-day conditions, Mr. Harper mentioned that their journey bouth from Ross, -v\hicli took then six days of bush-tiack and bodek could now be done in about five hour* by motor-car on a -first-class road. The speaker also commented on the way New Zealand's interesting native birds had been destroyed by stoatb and weasels?* In one river he explored with a Maori in 1894-9j, they were away from habitation for 19 weeks. They depended on birds for food, and except for one or itvo brief spells of '"short tucker," they found enough birds to carry them through in comfort. When, however, he led-a party across the Alps, of which his daughter, Miss Rosamund Harper, was a member, through this same country in December, 1928, they • saw only three or four bush birds of any sort, in a journey which occupied five days. As only, one other party had been in this river since Mr. Harper's first exploration 3G years before, it was obvious that an enemy other than man had caused the.disappearance of the birds. As a-mat* ter of fact, a dead weasel was found, which was proof enough, ii proof were necessary. Having described this little-known dis>trifs, Mi. Ha.i per .gave an interesting account of his expedition w.ith the Kiglil Hon. L. S. Amery, when they spent, ten days on the Tasman Glacier, and crossed * over the Minaret Peak (10,058 ft) to the Franz Josef, Glacier, including in' his description some "amusing incidentfi about kras. and also some instructive iidvice about -weather signs in the high Alps. ; - The whole story ,w<is illustrated ■with nome very lantern slides, many .of them beautifully coloured. Some of the cloud pictures Mr. Harper used to illustrate his remarks -on w<>ather signs were particularly beautiful. Half a. dozen slides s>ent out to him by the Mount Everest committee, showing the incidents of the final assault on that peak, were put on. the screen at the end of the evening, and' Mr. Harper was able to show his audience the various points of interest in the expedition, which resulted in the deaths of Messrs. Mallory and Irvine on the lasi attempt on that great mountain. At the conclusion of his address a hearty vote of thanks was passed to the Jecturer and to, Miss Rosamond Harper, rrho opcrate'd the lantern.. .'