DR MERTZ.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 6 March 1913, Page 4

DR MERTZ.

Dr W. E. Hansen, principal of the lnvereargill Technical School, contributes to the Southland Times some interesting notes on Or Mertz, a member of Dr Mawson's Expedition, who was recently reported to have died in the Antarctic. A native of Basel, ho was a fine representative of the German-Swiss, and on account of his skill in ski-iiig, he was well known throughout his native country and elsewhere. In 190S lie was the champion ski-springer of -Switzerland, a fact which testifies to his physique and strength of nerve. The hope of all ski-runners, remarks Dr Hansen, is to become ultimately proficient in springing, but comparatively few qua_ lifyf or the front rank in this branch of sport. The method of springing is, briefly, to take off from a cliff 30 to 50 feet high at a great speed acquired by travelling down a steep hill, and to alight in the snow at the base of the cliff. In several competitions it has been estimated that the speed of tho competitors at the moment of springing . was not less than 70 miles an hour. In this risky and exhilarating sport Mertz gained /i wide reputation, and it»was partly for his skill on ski that ho was chosen to accompany Mawson'« party. He was, one gathers, a genial and thorough sportsman, greatly interested in Antarctic exploration, and eminently fitted, physically and otherwise, for

the work that .he unde-Hcwk on joining Maffson's expedition.