The Manawatu Herald. Saturday, October 29, 1910. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 911, 29 October 1910, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. Saturday, October 29, 1910. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

A curious situation arises out of the Harbour’s Amendment Act now before the House. Hitherto, Boards have been variously constituted under authority of individual Acts. For instance, the local body consists of seven members : the Mayor of Foxton, one Government nominee, one representative each from the Manawatu County Council, Levin, Palmerston and Feildiug Borough Councils, and one selected by the ratepayers. Under the Minister of Marine’s new Act, which comes into force on January Ist, 1911, the Board will number twelve members, constituted as follows: Two Government nominees and the other ten elected. The elective members are defined as all the members of the Board other than those appointed by the Governor. It seems doubtful whether the Mayor falls under the head. The last Wednesday in April is the day on which the first election is to be held.

Spkaking at Wellington on Thursday night, Captain Scott said in respect to his dash for the South Pole :—“ The honour of the country is so bound up in this, that I don’t want it to depend on any one man’s effort. Whenever four men have to be dropped behind, they will be the least fit of the party, without fear or favour. With those sixteen men picked from all parts of the Empire, it we don’t get the four best men at the end, we shall at least have done our best to get them, and if you knew the spirit of the men who are on the Terra Nova, you would agree that I have some ground for hoping that we shall plant the flag that we all love somewhere near that geographical spot which is called the South Pole.” In acknowledging the welcome accorded him, he stated that in approaching the shores of New Zealand, he had experienced something of that home feeling which he had felt in anything like the same degree only when he was nearing England. When he was here before he left friends all

over the country, and he knew that in returning he would meet with a warm New Zealand welcome. Since he was here last he had had to go back to his place as a naval officer, and in the meantime Sir Ernest Shackleton, who was with him in the Discovery, had performed the most brilliant feat ever achieved in Antarctic ex • ploration. On being free to make another attempt, he felt that it must be done as soon as possible, lest some other nation should be the first to reach that coveted geographical position. Mr Thomson is not the only New Zealander who is going withhim. There were two New Zealand seamen in the crew, and probably one or two more will be taken. New Zealand wishes Captain Scott success and a safe return.