SOUTHWARD HO!

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 196, 19 August 1899, Page 1 (Supplement)

SOUTHWARD HO!

THE 1901 ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION.

Scientists and every one else interested in Polar exploration are wanting to know how much the British Government will contribute towards the cost of the English expedition which will be sent to the vast Antarctic regions in 1901.

It is estimated that the expedition will cost altogether £100,000. Of this £40,000 has been publicly subscribed, and the Government have been asked to give- the remaining £60,000. Sir Clements Markham, the president of the Royal Geographical Society, who introduced the deputation which waited on the First Lord of the Treasury last month, is very hopeful that the Government will accede to the request for assistance. He told a newspaper representative the other day that Mr Balfour's reply to the deputation was extremely kind and most favourable to the object in view.

" Of course it is impossible to say what sxibstantial sum the Government will give," said Sir Clements Markham; "but we are hoping for the £60,000 asked for. I cannot say anything about the expedition itself, as no arrangements have yet been made. The German expedition will start in the summer of 1901, and as we shall co-operate with the Germans in our researches, we intend to start at the same time. I am going to Berlin in September, and while there a conference with the German scientists will be held, and a report made to the joint committee of the Royal Society and the Royal Geographical Society.

" It is very likely that the German expedition will take one route and the English expedition another. You see, the work will be most important, especially from a meteorological point of view, and observations, which will be of the greatest possible value to the scientific world, will be taken simultaneously in the'same latitude, but in different longitudes. I wish we were in a position to send two ships, but I fear that will be impossible.

" The ship will be a steam, wooden vessel, modelled somewhat on the lines of the old Discovery, which returned from Arctic exploration in 1876. The Discovery is rotten now, but she has done a lot of work as a coal-lighter since her return, and she is a very suitable model. The new ship will have a tonnag-e of COO or 700 tons, and the drawings are now being1 prepared in the office of Sir William White, Chief Constructor to the Admiralty. Tenders for the building of the ship will be asked for in the autumn of this year.

"The expediton will probably be away three years, and the various estimates are :—Building the vessel, £35,000 ; fittings, £4,000; salaries and wages, £20,000 ; provisions, £8,000 ; outfits, £7,000 ; coals and stores, £10,----000 ;' landing party, £6,000 ; contingencies, £ 10,000. The Lords ' Com-

missioners of the Admiralty liave undertaken to furnish the scientific instruments.

" It is impossible to say at present who will be in command of the expedition. If. fortunately, naval officers are allowed to accompany it, there will be plenty of volunteers for the service and it will probably be no easy task to choose a commander out oil the large number of really good men who will apply. 1 understand that a professor will be in command of the German expedition. That would not suit us. We want a seaman, and a man who is thoroughly accustomed to dealing with a body of men.

' Will Nan sen go ? No ; btit I'm told he will probably fit out tin expedition in 1902 to explore the Antarctic regions. At present he is busy on his Arctic work."