SCIENCE IN ANTARCTIC*.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 227, 25 September 1922, Page 6

SCIENCE IN ANTARCTIC*.

WORK OF THE QUEST. METEOROLOGICAL STATIONS. FORECASTING THE SEASONS. (By Cable. —Press Association .—Copyright.) (Received 10.30 a.m.) LONDON, September 24. Captain Wilkins, of the Quest, described how when he and Lieut. Douglas were crossing South Georgia they were precipitated down a glacier side at such speed that the momentum of the slide carried them across an appalling crevasse, and plumped them safely on the other side. Finally, when they reached the coast on the far side of the island, it was found impossible to descend the sheer cliffs a thousand feet high. They either had to face the perils of the return journey, or make a desperate and thrilling slide • over snow sloping at sixty degrees, covering unknown chasms. They chose the latter course. They had no sledges, and said Capt. Wilkins: "We just sat on our trousers, using our arm and legs as brakes on the pace in the soft gnow We reached the bottom safely, to the amazement and incredulity of the whalers, who regarded the feat of crossing the island as impossible. "A New Zealander, Major Carr, intended to make an aeroplane trip to the Polar regions. The conditions were suitable, but, unfortunately, the Quest did not call at Capetown, where the machine should have been taken aboard." "This." saj*3 Capt. Wilkins, "was the greatest disappointment of the trip next to the death of Sir Ernest Shackleton."' He added that they had completed ■plans for the development of Antarctic meteorology, which they were submitting for the British Society's approval. The scheme involved building three ships, operating from Melbourne, Capetown, and Buenos Aires, and the establishment of several Antarctic and subAntarctic stations, maintained over a period of ten years, with wireless communication between each other and the main bases daily. After a few years' observations Captain Wilkins is confident that we will be able to gain knowledge of the system of Antarctic weather conditions and the influences of ice distribution, enabling definite prediction of seasonal conditions in the greater part of the Southern Hemisphere and even in part of the Northern. The vessels would make winter trips for hydrogTaphical, marine, and biological investigations, visiting stations at Cape Adair, Gansberg, Enderby Land, Edward the Seventh Land, Charcot Land, and Bonvet. Kerguelen, and Laurie Islands, where the Argentine has a station, and Macquarie, where Australia has a station. —(United Service.)