Law in Antarctica

New Zealand Listener, Volume 36, Issue 922, 12 April 1957, Page 23

Law in Antarctica

How good is New Zealand’s title to the Ross Sea Dependency? This is one of the questions discussed by Dr J. F. Northey in the second of three talks on Law and the World Community, to be broadcast from the YC stations, starting from 1YC on Monday, April 15, at 7.0 p.m. In his first talk, Dr Northey, who is Professor of Public Law at Auckland University College, discusses. the general concepts of international law, and in his third he deals with some of the problems of the United Nations-the status of the Secretariat, including ‘the recruitment of staff, their immunities and loyalties; the admission of new members and representation at the United Nations; and the dispute among members ove the limits of their territorial waters: Because of the great public interest in Antarctica during the. Geophysical Year, Dr Northey told The Listener he would devote his second talk to the |

legal problems of that continent. Although Antarctica was a vast, uninhabited, barren waste, possession could be determined according to principles laid down by the International Court at The Hague. The functions of government must have been exercised by the claimant in the area and a State’s claim must be the first among rival claims. In the case of the Falkland Islands there was no question of Britain’s claim being the first, Dr Northey said, but Britain’s preoccupation with World War II had given Chile and Argentina the opportunity to exercise some authority in that area. The title to the region had since been the subject of dispute between the three Powers. New Zealand’s title to the Ross Sea Dependency was a good one, said Dr Northey, Britain was the first claimant but had surrendered her rights to the Dominion which had _ shown just sufficient authority in that territory to support the claim. Few acts of government were required in an uninhabited territory in any case. But, said Dr Northey, there were other parts of Antarctica which might well be disputed. America, which had done more exploratory work there than any other State, had as yet made no claim to territories on the continent, and there were only two unclaimed territories available-Marie Byrd Land and James W. Ellsworth Land.