NO DECISION YET ON ANTARCTIC PARTY

Rotorua Morning Post, Issue 5280, 17 December 1946, Page 4

NO DECISION YET ON ANTARCTIC PARTY

( WELLINGTON, Last Night. J So far no Cabinet decision has been made as to whether a New Zealand scientific party is to be 1 seftt to the Antarctic. The matter i has now been under official notice ( for more than a month, but recent- 1 ly there has been no opportunity for the full discussion which Cabinet wishes to give to the subject. I t US9 If Cabinet gives its approval, it is believed that in many ways preparations are fairly well advanceds All aspeets of the proposals have been considered and discussed by the departmental heads, whose duty it is to advise Cabinet. They believe that an expedition is both possible and necessary. It is quite possible, of course, that there Avill be no race to the South. The New Zealand Government may be able to reach an amicable agreement with the United States before either pai-ty leaves. Control of Ross Sea New Zealand controls the Ross Sea Dependency only on bebalf of the British Government. Cables received in Wellington from London have dealt with the breaeh of sovereignty which might occur if the -Americans landed an expedition in the dependency, biit, as the United States does not recognise sovereignty over a territory which has not been settled, and, consequently, administered, there ds room for international complications. * There is, however, opportunity for such complications to be settled by agreement, and there is the possible* final solution of United Nations control. . Not only Britain, but also Australia, is believed to be waiting to see what New Zealand will do. The possibility of an American expedition to the Antarctic is not ruled out in some quarters.