STILL IN QUARANTINE

Hokitika Guardian, 12 April 1929, Page 2

STILL IN QUARANTINE

ANTARCTIC SLEDGE DOGS,

Disappointed at not reaching tin? Antarctic, but .still hoping to make it.. .Mr C. A. K. 1 lines-Taylor, vvlio is associate with the Byrd expedition, is visiting Auckland on holiday. Air 'l’ayior has charge of the 1 ■'> Alaskan sledge dogs, which arrived at Auckland by 1.. c mail steamer Niagara on .January 28th. from Vancouver, and went south iiy the supply ship Eleanor Hulling on tno recent trip, when the vessel was turned hack by the commander of the expedition owing to tempestuous weather. .Mr Taylor is also an aviation pilot, and has had experience of Hying in the Yukon, territory that he has extensive knowledge of owing to live years’ service with the [{oval Canadian .Mounted Police.

‘•As far as I am aware, everything is going smoothly with the expedition down south,” said Mr Taylor to an Auckland Star representative. “Fortytwo members of the expedition are remaining on the ice during the winter months, hut some of the personnel have returned to the United States. Fifteen left h.v the Tahiti on March 20, and another 12 are to leave New Zealand shortly. They have the opportunity of returning next December, but whether or not they will is difficult to say. Captain G. L. Brown, of the Eleanor Boiling, Captain F. C. Melville, of the City of New York, the navigating and engineering staffs, and myself, who have charge of the sledge dogs now in quarantine on Quail Island, are staying

on. The dogs are in very good shape, but we are anxious to get them to Mount Cook on to the snow. If we cannot get permission from the Government. to remove them from Quail Islaml. we will have no alternative but to return them to Canada, for they must have ice work if they are to he in good condition for next December. Tt is very likely that the dogs will be released from quarantine, but we will not know definitely until April In. Discussing the loss of Chinook, tin leader of the dog team, with Comma-.* dor Byrd,. Mr Taylor said that Ids disappearance on his birthday was a loss indeed, as he was a good leader, tliis although he was 11 years old, and a sledge dog is rarely good for hard work over eight. Deferring to the arrangements for the expedition in general he said that everything was complete in every detail. The expedition was equipped with every essential, and modern explorers had not the hardships to contend with that faced pioneers in Antarctica exploration, such as Scott and Shaekleton. Wireless remo’-”' 1 the sense of isolation, and during tin 1 cruise of the Eleanor Bolling the ship’s company was able to converse with the section of the expedition at the base at the Bay of Whales and New York every evening.

A pioneer of the Yukon aviation service, Mr Taylor, resigned his position to link up with the Bryd expedition, although he intends to return to n when his work in southern latitudes is completed. Flying in the far northern territory of America, lie explained, was very hazardous owing to its many glacial rivers, high mountains, aiu! uncertain weather renditions. The service, which was conducted both winter and summer, extended from White Horse (north (50 degrees) to Mayo (north (54 degrees) and then wesk'-' to Dawson (north (54 degrees). “It is really an experiment,” he added, “as the population in the .‘5(5,000 square mil es of the Yukon is only 4000. who engage principally in mining, fur trapping, and trading with the Esquimaux. Nevertheless it has justified itself by giving service to the eouutiy. It is not a paying proposition at all. or instance, we carry the mails liom White Horse to Dawson in five hours whereas, in the ordinary course of travel, the’dog team and caterpillar tractor, the journey occupied 14 days. The service is rendering really wonderful benefit, because Dawson formerly was out off entirely from civilisation in the winter months.”

A vivid description of Dawson, a city of 40,000 people in the feverish gold mining days of the nineties, which to-day is an isolated township of but a. mere 1000, was given by Mr Taylor. “In Dawson to-day,” he said, “buildings lean in all directions and decay is everywhere. One sees beneath the surface the glory that was Dawson’s, and the city that was built with the sweat of men’s bodies, and the flaming exertion ol the stampede. In Dawson of to-day live a kindly people, who have a wonderful spirit of optimism and dream ot the day when Dawson will come hack. It is something similar to your goldfields in Xev Zealand, and the principal mining done is there now is for silver. Transportation is the greatest difficulty, hut aviation is assisting to reduce distances and is proving a wonderful boon to the country.”