IN ANTARCTICA.

Hokitika Guardian, 7 July 1930, Page 8

IN ANTARCTICA.

CLAIMS TO LAND. A British Note to the United States in 1928, implied that Britain claimed sovereignty over virtually the whole ot : the 5,000,000 square miles of the Antarctic. It mentioned a proclamation of 1926—made by the British Government at the suggestion of Australia which held that “the British title already exists by virtue of the discovery” of the following areas:—

1. Outlying parts of coasts and land namely, a portion not comprised with the Falkland Island dependencies.

2. Enderby Land

3. Kemp Land. 4 Queen Mary Land. 5 An area which lies west of Adelle land, and which on its discovery bv the Australian Antarctic Expedition of 1912, was named Wilkes Land. 6. King George V. Land. 7 Oates Land. NEW ZEALAND INTERESTED. New Zealand is directly interested in this claim, as the Dominion is already administratively responsible for the large areas of the Antarctic Continent known as the Ross Dependency. This lies between meridian 150, east and meridian 150 west, and includes the toss Sea, the Bay of Whales, which was Byrd’s headquarters, and all the country over which attempts to reach the South Pole have been made. Admiral Byrd claims are to tlie land lying to the east of the Dependency which ho saw and photographed from his areoplane. The coast line ol his ijirie Byrd Land has not yet been discovered. Lieutenant Charles Wilkes, of The ,'nited States Navy, visited the Anarctic about 1839 and 1840, sighting hind to the west of the Dependency, •ind this has been named after him, "igh it has other names. Adelie r and is part of it.-The Encyclopedia Rritannica says: “The weather was •Vifl with fogs, snowstorms and fr’’mient griles, and. although land was reported at several noints it was rarely seen distinctly, and the officers were not agreed among themselves in some cases No one, however, eon 1 ' 1

establish a claim to the discovery of a continent from sighting a discomtinunns chain of high lend along its coast without making a landing.”

ADMIRAL BYRD’S REPORT. Admiral Byrd, during his expedition, reported/having discovered a vast new mountain range running north-south leyond King Edward VII. Land bslio < of the Bay of Whales). It was mapped with the aerial camera for a hundred ind fifty, miles, It is this land which •Aids the great ice sheets at the eastern nd of the Rpss Sen, ice whih e<nlorers have attempted to penetrate since first found by Ross in IP-10. It extends far to the north and appnmitly turns eastward within the range 'of visibility from the ’plane so that : t is probable that this great unknown coast has actually been delineated to its northern boundary. That can be determined after the pictures have been developed. The importance of the finding goocan hardly he over-empha-sised, as this mountain range, with a high plateau behind, seems to compare with the similar range on the eastern side of the' Ross Sea, and may be the eastern side of the Great Barrier, in which the Rock fellow Mountains and T 'ing Edward VIT. Land are part the archipelago. Ross, the daring' pioneer who first forced his way through the pack into the sea which bears his name, and who found the great ice Barrier, bumped into that barricade and turned hack ‘-■ntt and Shackleton tried to ma’ r Hir>ir way along the coast, and wer» baffled by ice islands and drift ice "’hioh closed about them and force-' them to turn hack. Whalers have Vnypved along the edge of that grea J : -e shept for ypnrs, and wondered wlmt ' b’d it there. That part of the Aetn 'has been one of its most tantr.lisi , r ovisteries. BASIS OF THE CLAIM. Mr if sane Bowman, director of th Vmerican Geographical Society, and one of the principal backers of th lyrd Expedition, stated last Decern or. that the United States by virtue >f Admiral Byrd’s latest flight, was in a position to lay claim to 35,000 square miles of Antarctic territory lying along - hitherto unknown coast some 250 "lies in length. ‘Since Byrd’s base camp is withii the Ross Dependency, it is necessary n setting u a claim on the part ho United States that there should V 'ndependent, continuous cmr’P-t'on be tween the new discoveries am* tile sec •t a point where no question of conflict if elnirns could enter into the argu ’lent.” Air Bowman ‘explained that Byrd’ c observation of such connection was con tinuons. “in so far as an claim to-pola 1 ’ l oi'iivories are valid they must res’ ■'i+ upon the piineip l - of permon** 1 ' 4 .fvinit‘on but linen subspouent not* 'cation of the fact to other Powers.”