NORWEGIAN CLAIMS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 March 1939, Page 7

NORWEGIAN CLAIMS

LANDS IN ANTARCTIC CONTESTED BY GERMANY. AREA “FULLY EXPLORED.” By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright BERLIN, March 10. The Official News Agency, reporting on Norwegian claims to sovereignty over certain Antarctic territories, declares that sovereignty over this area is now claimed by Germany. The agency says that as far as can be seen from documents in Germany, these Norwegian explorers have not even flown over, let alone trodden on. the territory which, it is now discovered, was fully explored by a Germanexpedition. Captain Paul Ritscher, operating by aeroplane, claims the discovery of 135,000 square miles of an Antarctic continent between 5 degrees West and 15 degrees East longitude and extending inland to 5 degrees South latitude, including mountain ranges and a high central Polar massif. A message from Oslo, published on January 16, said: A measure introduced in the Norwegian State Council claims sovereignty over Antarctic continental territory, stretching from the Falkland Islands, to Australia’s Antarctic dependencies. The Foreign Minister explained that the sector concerned was explored and mapped exclusively by Norwegian expeditions. The area claimed was most important for Norwegian whaling, but it was not intended to restrict the whaling rights of other countries. OFFICIAL STATEMENT. (Received This Day, 9.35 a.m.) OSLO, March 10. It is officially stated that Norway, on January 14, claimed sovereignty over tha't area of the Antarctic which Ritscher claimed he had discovered. GERMANY WAITING. (Received This Day. 9.35 a.m.) BERLIN, March 10. Germany is not claiming the Antarctic Continent until Ritscher returns to Berlin and reports.