POLAR CONTROVERSY

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 839, 6 December 1929, Page 9

POLAR CONTROVERSY

AUCKLANDER SAYS GRA WAS UNFAIR

MEMBER OF SCOTT PARI

“I think that Major Tryggv Gran's admiration and love to Captain Scott has made him ur generous and even unfair towar Commander Byrd.”

This was the opinion expressed Mr. C. Reginald Ford, the well-kno Auckland architect, who was a rat her of Captain Scott's first Antarc Expedition in 1901-1904, when iut viewed this morning concerning; i controversy which is taking place ov Byrd's expedition to the South Pole.

Mr. Ford has made a study of Po exploration, and his journey to i Polar regions with Captain Scott allies him to understand the posit l fully.

He says that he could not quite - derstand Commander Byrd's referet to the discovery of previously unkno mountain ranges, particularly as 1 ' reports stress the fact that no mo tains could be seen on the other s of the Pole from Little America. Mo tains to the east and west of Byr track have been seen dearly, and ported by previous explorers, i Mr. Ford produced two volumes Mr. Apsley Cherrv-Garrard which g a wonderful account of Captain Scot second expedition to the South P( (. The books are entitled "The Wo Journey in the World." Mr. Cherry-Garrard led one of • ■ parties with Scott,' and his story 1 . been written after years of content!. tion and after the glamour of perse contact, has been lost in the succe ing years. Maps in these volumes show clea the ranges of mountains to which Ci mander Byrd evidently refers. T 1 circle the huge ice plateau round Pole. Most of the peaks on the s of the Pole nearest the Ross Sea named. Writing of Polar explorers in hi. book, Mr. Cherry-Garrard says: “The trouble in that they (Pols explorers) lose their ideals in thi complicated atmosphere of civ lisation. They run one anothe down like the deuce, and it is quit time they stopped. “What is the use of ‘A’ running dt i Scott because he served with Shack ton, or 'B' going for Amundsen beca he served with Scott? They have . done good work; within their linthe best work to date.” “It is quite understandable," marked Mr. Ford, “that one woo 1 - served with the earlier expeditions fore the days of flying has a little f. ing of envy of those who are at . with apparent ease, to do what th with whom he servec did with su struggle and even loss ot life; 1 a this natural feeling should not be lowed to dim one's appreciation of iwork of the later explorers.” Mr. Ford said that he had no * perience whatever of flying, but tb it appeared to him that Comniant, Byrd had made a very flue flight tint very difficult and dangerous con tions, and that his expedition was no means lacking in hardship, ri and the need for good organisat: and great courage. Commenting on Major Gran’s r marks that evidences of former Po:. exploration could not possibly ha been seen by Byrd, Mr. Ford says sees no reason to doubt the Americ.. “If I had been asked, before I had seen the newspapers, that such ex dences could be seen, I would ha remarked, ‘Oh, yes, there is eve :• chance of it,’ ” he said. “The inter cold in the Polar regions acts as preservative. When Commant Byrd says that he saw traces of t camps of Scott and Amundsen I sno reason to doubt hint., I think p sonally that he is an honourai man.”

Mr. Ford said he did not wish criticise Commander Byrd's explor but he felt that one eye had been kt on the publicity side by the repo which were being sent daily by wi less. The whole trouble was that the doings of the party were being re corded day by day instead of being contained in one report at the enrof the expedition, as in former times. On previous voyages of ex ploration the men had worked quietly without any thought of publicity. Another side to the question h perhaps not been considered. T. - was that only people who were P 1 sonally interested in Polar expiorati could sustain the interest in the counts of the expedition. Mr. Ford showed the reporter a j ture of a depot he had established Captain Scott on the Great Ice Barri and he is of the opinion that t bamboo poles are still there today.