The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 1930.

Hokitika Guardian, 22 August 1930, Page 4

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 1930.

ANTARCTIC EXPLORATION. Pnoimsou OjuI'KJTH Tayloji, a member of Captain Scott’s lust expedition, has said t-Jiat. “there are dour magnets which draw explorers to the poles. These are Adventure., Fame, Potential Resources and Science,” While adventure and the desire’ for fame may be powerful incentives,’the modern polar expedition must accumulate a vast amount of information if it Is to justify the expenditure and the risks involved. Being better equipped to acquire such information, the modern expedition has replaced the traditional individual explorer. However, the feeling has of late been growing that far more valuable results would accrue from polar expeditions if there' wore co-ordination of effort. With this object in view, the International Conference of Directors'of Meteorological Institutions, held' in Copenhagen last year, decided to organise a second polar year in 1932-1933, which is appropriately the jubileWof the first polar year which was organised. As New Zealand is-expected to undertake “a-share in the investigations, the matter has

recently been taken tip by the New Zealand Institute with the. object of co-operating with the Australian authorities in the matter of organised investigations in the Antarctic? regions which provide n most interesting and important field for research. The vast Antarctic Continent itself affords almost unlimited scope for exploration not only in the scientific field, hut also as regards its 1 potential resources. Outcrops of coal seams have been found there, proving that, at some remote ago, there flourished in those regions a dense vegetation. Where there was plant life, there was possibly also animal life, so that it is difficult to tell what secrets Antarctica holds within its frozen bosom, and, however fantastic it may seem at present, it may become feasible and even necessary at some future time to exploit some of the resources which perhaps exist there. Valuable work could be accomplished by synchronised investigation of problems concerning terrestrial magnetism and atmospheric electricity, especially with regard to their influence on the compass and on wireless com mini Wit ion. Rut it is to the results of the meteorological work that New Zealand as an agricultural country looks most, expectantly. It seems fairly certain, comments an exchange, that the Antarctic Continent, half as large again as Australia and covered with an 'enormous thickness of ice, exerts some influence on the weal her of the Dominion, pnrticulavlv in the smith. Tn this connection, although possibly the view held tv one authority that the Antarctic has a definite influence on tin* Indian monsoons may he unduly imaginatve, it would be interesting to discover if the rigour of the present season is the result of the early and severe. Antarctic

winter, which caused the Byrd Expedition some anxiety. The cold winds which sweep down from the central plateau wth hurreane force must make their influence felt, if not directly, then indirectly, as they maintain the supply of ice which forms the fringing icepack, that “fluctuating refrigerator” which chills the ocean currents which wash our shores. In these days of ocean greyhounds which plough their way across and against the currents the influence of these circulatory movements of the waters of the sea tends/ to he forgotten Accurate data concerning tlies currents would perhaps, apart from their importance meteorologically, assist in accounting for any unu.sua,l coastal .movements fraught, with importance to mariners. Owing to the great unbroken expanse of the Southern Ocean, atmospheric conditions are probably simplified, thereby rendering the study of meteorological phenomena easier. The proposed establishment- of nieteorologi; al stations in Antarctic regions is a matter of great interest to this Dominion, which may reap some benefit as a result of the investigations during the proposed international polar year.