THINGS THAT MATTER.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXV, Issue 78, 9 April 1913, Page 4

THINGS THAT MATTER.

In the course of an article on ‘ The Things That Matter,” the “Otago Daily Times” referring especially to a letter from a correspondent questioning the value of polar expeditions and of exploration work in general in the more inaccessible and uninhabitable portions of the globe, icmarks that the inquiry whether the scientific results of these expeditions are commensurate with the expenditure of- money, of time, of energy, and even of human life that is involved in j them is a perfectly legitimate one,j and it may perhaps be said with some j reason that the public as a whole has; not enjoyed the benefit, to any large extent, of the conclusions which have been based upon the data collected by the various parties of explorers. Even, however, if the scientific results of the expeditions to the Antarctic were entirely negligible, it would not follow that the work that was accomplished by Captain Scott and his companions was of the kind that does not “matter very much.’ Such argument, the “Times” continues, is one that, if it had been accepted in the past, would have been fatal to the spirit of enterprise which led to the discovery of new lands, to the exploration of unknown territory, and to the opening up of the great sources of the mineral wealth of the world. And the suggestion that the recent expedition was undertaken in the quest of notoriety and fame and of the “almighty dollar” is mean and discreditable. The sufficient answer to the assertion that a desire for pecuniary gain instigated the promoters of the expedition is shown in the fact that Captain Scott, with all the knowledge he possessed of the risks he was incurring, pledged his private estate to raise funds to meet the cost of the expedition, upon which there was a heavy liability at the time of his death, and that other members of the party contributed liberally to the cost of the expedition'. Notoriety and fame are attainable by much simpler: and loss 1 arduous methods than those that are associated with polar exploration. “The death of Captain Scott and the four comrades who reached the South Pole with him is of value to the nation because it must chasten us with the reminder that our Empire, and our greatness, and our fair fame in the world of science and exploration have been built up upon such sufferings and such sacrifices. Lives so lost are not lives wasted ; lives wasted are lives spent in inglorious ease and safety, with enjoyment as the only consideration.”