THE ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION

Hokitika Guardian, 3 December 1928, Page 7

THE ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION

(Otago Daily Times.) Tile departure of an Antarctic expedition from this port is an event of exceptional interest. Commander Byrd and his companions will carry with them the good wishes of the community for their success in an enterprise that appeals strongly to the imagination in an ora that is greatly given over to utilitarianism. It is an enterprise that demands special traits and the qualities of courage and endurance oil the part of those engaged in it. The venture is one calling also for wise forethought, elaborate planning, and exhaustive preparation. Commander Byrd will load wlmt may he said to he the most completely equipped expedition that has ever set out for the frozen south. lie profits hy the experience of those who, like Scott, Shack leton, and Amundsen, were before him in Antarctic exploration. He enjoys the advantage also ol the progress that has been made in more recent years in scientific invention such as is calculated to facilitate investigation and transport and generally render the lot of men sojourning in the ice-hound regions ol Antarctica more tolerable, and a little less isolated than was that of members of previous expeditions. It may ho hoped, therefore, that, given reasonably good lor'iine. Commander Hvrd and those who keep him company will he able to add another notable chapter in the history of Antarctic exploration, and gather a mass of valuable material for the enlargement of knowledge oi the world in which we live.

According to Professor Sir Edgeworth David. who nooompnnied Sir Ernest Shackleton to the South, the outstanding problem of the unexplored Antarctic Continent is geographical—whether or not this great area of land is bisected by a bolt of ocean stretching from the Ross Sea on 1 ho Australian side to Weddell Sea in the American quadrant. The great Antarctic ice-cap has an area of five million square miles, or more than one-thirtieth of the whole aiea of the oceans of the world. And not the least interesting of the researches of Commander Byrd’s expedition, observes Professor David, will he that of seeking evidence ol the past and piesent thickness of this ice-cap—his own estimate is that it may average ISOO feet at present—and of determining the areas in which it is waxing and waning. as well as its rate of movement seawards, and the source of the snows that nourish it.

From the economic point of view Sir Edgeworth David expects that the greatest immediate gain from the expedition will be to the science of meteorology. No country has no reason to be more deeply interested in this aspect of the investigations that are to lie carried out by this expedition than Now Zealand. For, whether for our good or ill. New Zealand is more closely in touch than any other country of temperate climate with what has been termed the greatest refrigerator of the world. In the months to come, when the familiar blustering gales come hurtling from the south over that long stretch of lonely ocean which lies between our southern coast and the (ii'caf Ice Barrier, we shall think—nor many of us, perhaps, with envy ol Commander Byrd and his companions, voluntary exiles from civilisation, carrying out their chosen task in the home of the bliy./.ard.