THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, MARCH 27, 1909. ANTARCTIC EXPLORATION.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3148, 27 March 1909, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, MARCH 27, 1909. ANTARCTIC EXPLORATION.

The return of the Nimrod from the Antarctic revives interest in the work of exploration at the South Pole. It is perhaps very natural that there should be some people who have not the faintest idea of the value of the addition* to our knowledge that may be made by an Antarctic expedition. And there must be many who are dimly conscious that in some mysterious way the progress of science may be benefited by a journey to the South Pole. During the last 13 years the comparatively tiny vessels containing intrepid explorers with the South Pole for thengoal would make quite a little fleet. Was it only the spirit of adventure that provided the motive which induced men to spend so much money, to risk valuable Jives, merely to arrive at conclusions on matters wheh bring no return to industry or commerce? It is clear that among the tranches of science which will benefit are geodesy and astronomy. Such expeditions, it is hoped aad believed, will teach us more about the form of the terrestrial geoid than we can learn from other sources. The most important problem that modern astronomy has to solve is the distance of the sun from the earth, for that is i continually being required to serve i as a unit in astronomical measurements. But all measures of parallax depend on the value of the terrestrial diameter. And that is why an exact knowledge of the shape and the size of the earth is just now an object of intense interest in scientific circles. Then, again, there is the question of the exact situation of the South Pole. Are there the same variations in both austral and boreal auroras? Do these variations depend on the state of the sHn? Is the variation of the electric potential of the sun constant, and does it influence that of the earch? Observations which will go far to answer such questions as these must be spread over full periods of sun-spots and protuberances. The Abbe Moreux looks forward to a chain of Antarctic stations from which simultaneous observa- | tions can be made. And then, he believes. we shall get the data we require for throwing light upon the dynamical side of a problem of which the causes at present are in doubt. Antarctic glaciology, the study of the depths of the austral seas, the condition of the atmosphere around the Pole —here again are matters that await our question. Does the area of low pressure, with its unpleasant possibilities of fogs and terripcests, extend to the Pole itself? That is a matter of considerable interest to the navigators of future expeditions. '