SOUTH POLE RACE

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 382, 6 May 1910, Page 6

SOUTH POLE RACE

BRITISH SHOULD WIN BY A FEW HOURS. CAPTAIN SCOTT'S FORECAST. London, March 23. Captain Scott, R.N., and Mrs. Scott ■were the guests lof the evening at a dinner given by the New Vagabond Club at the Hotel Cecil, and the former made a jocular forecast in regard to the great South Pole race. Replying to the toast of his health, Captain Scott said there came into his expedition an element of competition, ■but it was of a friendly description. While they went from one side of the Antarctic Circle, their American cousins would go from the other side, and there would be nothing but friendly rivalry, Their time of starting was founded upon the climate, and they hoped to arrive at the particular point on the surface of the earth called the South Pole, just a few hours, if not a few days, before their American friends. (Cheers). He alluded to the fact that the funds of the expedition were still £SOOO short, ami his time was >so much taken up with looking after safety pins and other details that he could not go round cap in hand.

As to their preparations, tliey were getting together about as good a set of men as ever set sail from this country. (Cheers). Many of them had been with him before. They had had 8000 applicants, and if. said Cantata Scott, amid laughter, there were 8000 people ready to "take the job" it could not be a very dangerous one. About this time next year, he went on, they would have just about laid out their depots and he returning towards the base. And as the temperature would .be falling to minus 40, and so on, it ■would !>e getting cold. .Thev would be getting into their sleeping bags, made of reindeer skin, and they would, he knew, find them full of ice. For a long ' !me thpv would -w shivering until the ice melted, and then water would drip all over them, and they would gradually drop off to sleep. Next day, atter a good march, they would have their evening meal of pemmienn, and they would enjoy that almost as much as the dinner that night. (Laughter and cheers). NEXT SHACKLETOX EXPEDITION. Sir E. Shaeklcton, who left England last Saturday for the United States on a lecturing tour, accompanied by Lady S'hackleton, hopes to re-visit the Antarctic in 1011, but not as a rival of Captain Scott. '"The Jposition." he said, "is this. I have not abandoned the idea of Antarctic work in the future—far from it—hut I have no intention of trying to teach the Pole while Captain Scott is engaged in that project. There can be no question of competition between British explorers in any mere attempt to reach the Pole, lint, apart from this, there is a vast amount of scientific work to be done in the Antarctic iin which the more expeditions that are engaged the better it will he for science.

"Captain Scott lias pne .base at McMurdo Sound and another on King Edward VlT.'s Land, and the American Ibase is the Weddell Sea, hut /there is a region extending from Cape Adair to Gaussberg that has many interesting problems. This will lie the scene of the next expedition I organise. I propose to have a base ht Cape Adair and one at Adelie Land, and the main objects of the undertaking will he purely scientific and ideographical. TWO SHIPS TO SAIL. "At this stage it would be quite premature to say that I have arranged any details, for there are many circumstances to prevent this. I hope, however, that .my next expedition will leave •in 1!)1I, and that it will be on a larger scale than anything yet attempted in the Antarctic. Two ships will probably be engaged, f do not propose to anneal to .the public for funds, so as not to interfere with Captain Scott's financial plans, either now or at a later date. The work f have in view lias the approval uf the highest in (the <eie>itifie world, and alreadv 1 have promises of financial support. To a certain extent T can rely upon 'the financial help of friends, one of the principal being' Mr. Herald Lvsaght. of the well-known firm of iron founders of Somerset.

"A3 I have already said, T have not yet .settled any details, hut my i-om-panions will include a large number of my old staff, and Dr. Douglas Mawson, of Sydney University, the mineralogist of my last expedition, will be the scientific (director, with complete charge of organisation, staff, etc. This programme represents my general desires as to the future, for Antarctic work is very near to my heart."