IN ANTARCTICA

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 55, Issue 139, 25 March 1935, Page 5

IN ANTARCTICA

BRITISH EXPEDITION. IDEAL WINTER QUARTERS. DISCOVERIES ALREADY MADE. ("Times" World Copyright—Special. (Received This Day, 12.30 p.m.) LONDON, March 24. Wirelessing from Graham Land, the recorder of the Rymill Expedition says • "We settled down in ideal winter quarters in the Argentile Islands base. The hut is well situated for scientific work in the neighbourhood of a snowcovered hill, where Stevenson (chief surveyor) has erected a meteorological screen. The hill provides a splendid skiring nursery, to which beginners resort in the evening. The wireless station has also been erected. The Penola was first anchored' at Port Lockrey on January 21, when an aeroplane was rigged and searched for a suitable base. Rymill's original intention to establish a base much further south was impossible owing to the Penola's engine beds working loose, necessitating repairs. The' seaplane has already flown I'3oo miles and has been of the greatest value in carrying out the plans. It prospected a route across the'interior of Graham Land, resulting in the discovery in Mothe Bay of an island suitable 'for an advanced base, whence sledge journeys would be possible southward across the sea ice.

"The expedition also found Crane Channel, which Sir Hubert Wilkins described as a strait extending across. Graham Land, the existence of which channel being since doubted. It is either.an ice-covered strait or sufficiently low to permit a sledge .route across Graham Land. "These discoveries give the hope of fulfilling the main object of the expedition, namely, the exploration of the unknown coast between Charcot Land and Luitpold Land."