The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1929. THE ANTARCTIC QUEST.

Hokitika Guardian, 25 November 1929, Page 4

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1929. THE ANTARCTIC QUEST.

r The Prime Minister of Norway has been stirred to make a statement about tiie operations of, lu£,.gO'juiitr.ymen in the Antarctic. Norway, ..he says, has always .that, territory that iad not been occupied ,;de.,jure,. and de ■ acto by, . another nqiipn should be , egarded as no man’s ;|aits], and she apdies that principle ..to (tire Arctic and -he Antarctic, udiere shp vconsiders her . «{5 and .unhapinered by any. tlier nation. Nobody, bus; hampered lie Norwegians in their descent upon *>? Antarctic .except ~jn ~the . respect hat , those of theiji, who establish -!ieir,..ba,ww.' in New-«»«Zealand are re--1 aired to pay license fees entitling hem to operate in lloss £ea, which cs under the jurisdiction of this Do:iinion. 1 f_th,ey. were hampered in heir operations, they would hardly be expected to be in the southern seas in such force as they are this year. Perhaps' the Norwegian Premier has ■ leeu moved to make llis pronouncement .by recent comment in foreign papers suggesting the despatch of a mysterious Norwegian expedtion. It eerned to be implied that this might '« a countermove in rivalry to the .daw.son expedition. A message from Oslo stated, however, that the whaler isoi wegia had been conducting scientific explorations for over, two years and there was no intention of searching for new land, “though if uncharted

unclaimed land were found the Norwegian flag would naturally be boistod.” An Australian publication of recent date contains an. article entitled “Land Grabbing in Antarctica,” the writer of which, says the “Otago Times” envelops his stage in a fine atmosphere of suggestive mystery. Behind the veil of secrecy, he holds, it is fairly obvious that a groat deal of international activity and rivalry not unmixed with bitterness is going on, reminiscent of the old days of colonial expansion. Three Norwegian shim are supposed to have suddenly appeared on tbe scene. The secrecy extends, it is asserted, to the Mawson Expedition, and Commander Tivrd, “with his busy preparation to survey, chart, and take possession of further territories for tbn United States” is of eou-se complicating the position. Tt is ready somewhat astonishing to think that we live in such exciting times, and that New Zealand is so close to. and, in view of her sovereign interest in portion of the Antarctic, so mixed no with all this dark competition for s! ices of still n n n no re n r i a ted territory in the great • "White South. Precisely what advantage is to bo derived from all the flag-'daiding and staking-out that are alleged to be going on in mysterious Antarctica is not very nnnarent. Sir Douglas Mawson would probably be amused to learn that a reil of secrecy enwraps bis expedition, ind that an Australian miblicatioin las appealed to tbe new Prime Minster of the Commonwealth “to break

the Antarctic silence.” Antarctica, is very cold .very inhospitable, and very vast, and has a coastline of 14,000 miles or more. If the presence of the Norwegian whalers there in force has created comment it is mainly because they are exploiting the wealth of those seas almost without competition. Captain Davis, of the Discovery, was recently reported as having said: “There is plenty of room in the Antarctic for everybody. The more expeditions that* go there the better.” Probably that is true enough. It is satisfactory to know that there is again a British scientific expedition in the Antarctic field.