THE EXPLORED WORLD

Hokitika Guardian, 9 November 1928, Page 8

THE EXPLORED WORLD

(Exchange.)

Long ago it was said of the Renaissance that it was the discovery of Nature ami of man, and it may he said to-day Unit the investigation ol the vast new worlds then opened up lias never teased. in some directions it is oeing pursued with greater zest than ever before. In one direction, however, effort has been slackened by force of circumstance. The world has been explored. When we look hack to-day, 011 the eve of the bi-centenary of Cook’s birth, to those days when men could say with literal truth Uni they were 11 the first who ever hurst ” into some “silent sea,” we are struck hy the fact that with the exception ol Mie territory at the Poles, and a few relatively small areas elsewhere, the whole world has been map|ied, and the occupation of explorers such as Cook is gone. There are no surprises left for an explorer to find. The great changes that have come over the world may both help and hinder us in trying to imagine what Cook’s task was like. As the traveller looks out on Iho'oeoan form a lounge, chair on the deck ol a liner lie may he suddenly thrilled and humbled by the thought ol Cook’s voyages in small sailing ships through unknown and perilous seas. On the other hand, his imagination may have been so dulled by comfort llial lie does not give Cook a thought. That is why such anniversaries should ho kept. They an? an invitation to understand and praise famous men. In the wider sense, Tiowever, exploration is not dead. fn (‘very age the spirit of enterprise and daring, ol (lie search lor the unknown, is horn anew. To-day we see, it in the determination of mankind to explore every square mile of the world’s surface, to climb to the very peak of Everest, though nothing material is to he gained hy conquering that last hit ol snow or ice. Some of tin? energy that used to he directed to geographical exploration is now spent in flying across continents and oceans. Also, a man may he an explorer without leaving his study or his laboratory ; his voyaging, like Newton’s, is “ oil strange seas ol thought alone.” And this stay-at-home investigator may expose himself to bodily risks as grave almost as those that beset the geographical explorers ol old. The world has boon charted, hut there lie ahead tasks that may tax the brains and character of mankind even more than did the old indiflerenee and hostility of Nature. We have it on the authority of a poet—and really it does not require genius to see it—that man may conquer Nature and then drop into himself and he a fool. Or, as a greater poet put it, knowledge comes hut wisdom lingers. Man has to conquer disease and.poverty, his own raging appetites and insensate prejudices. He must use science, hut woe to him if ho allow science to become his master. His hardest task of all may he t-> control the machine he lias made. In short, he has explored and conquered tin? world, hut not himself, and in tlm present and coming struggle he will need just such skill, determination and courage as made Cook so great a figure in the history of exploration.

ment too long to care two-pence what they say. (Applause.). . . The Iteiform Party and the United Parly have the same objective—the good ol New Zealand. . .”

“ J think Liberalism can be defined as doing the greatest good for the greatest number of people,” replied Mr Wilford. (Applause.) “ 1 believe myself to be a Liberal,” lie added.