TO THE POLE.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 80, 6 April 1926, Page 7

TO THE POLE.

BYRD ON THE WING.

DEPARTURE OF THE CHANTIER.

(Received 12.30 p.m.)

NEW YORK, April 5. The Polar ship Chantier, carrying the expedition headed by Commander Byrd, sailed on Monday for Spitzbergen. Two aeroplanes are stored in the hold of the vessel. The charting of new lands and obtaining meteorological data are the scientific objects of the expedition, which has the backing of the United States Government. Commander Byrd hopes to fly to the Pole and back.—l A. and N.Z.).

The expedition led by LieutenantCommander Richard E. Byrd has just sailed from New York in its effort to blaze an air route to the Pole itself. The dirigible Norges, with Norwegian and Italian members of the expedition, headed by Kaold Amundsen, have made a successful flight in a trying test. Of the three American expeditions the first to take the air under present plans is that headed by the Australian explorer, Captain George H. Wilkins, now on its way to the north. This expedition is backed by the American Geographical Society, the Detroit Aviation Society and the North American Newspaper Alliance.

The chief purpose is to seek an unknown land believed to lie north ot Alaska and Siberia. If land be discovered a base will be established and a flight across the North Pole to Spitzbergen will be attempted. Another American expedition, headed by Lieutenant Leigh Wade, American TOUnd-the-world flyer, also seeks this mystery land, hut in addition seeks to make a trip to the Pole. All the mechanics on the machine will be Italians. Captain Oscar Wisting, who was with Amundsen on the Maud, will be aboard. Captain Nobile will be first pilot and RiiseT Larsen, a scientist, and several Norwegian naval officers will be included" in the party of sixteen on the ship. Captain Amundsen explained that locally the Pole is not the objective of the trip, which is of a purely geographical nature. A mysterious motor sledge will play a part in the expedition under.the auspices of the French Navy Department. The sledge is the design of Captain Otto Sverdrup. Norwegian seaman, who piloted Nan sen in the Fram on his famous drift past the North Pole locked in Polar ice. Hydroplanes also will be used.

"From Nome to Rome," is the slogan of the Amundsen expedition, and so confident is Captain Amundsen of success that he informed friends in Vancouver that he would meet them in Seattle after he had connected at Nome with the steamer for the south.

Lieutenant H. H. Oerden, another of the American round-the-world flyers, will assist Lietitenant Wade, and Robert Anderson Pope, engineer, who planned the trip, believes there may still be plants and animals that are direct descendants of prehistoric forms in the regions to be explored this summer. Lieutenant Wade has given voice to the impression that Soviet Russia is planning a secret flisht to the unexplored territory in the hope of claiming any land that may be found;

Lieutenant Eliassen. a Norwegian, hopes to reach the North Pole in a flying boat, startine from Nova Zembla.

An expedition, headed by Harrison Williams, backed by the American Museum of Natural History and. George Palmer Putnam, publisher, will cruise the seas about Greenland, to obtain scientific data.

A party from the University of Michigan, led by Professor William H. Hobbs, will explore Greenland itself. A Russian expedition to the west shore of Nova Zembla, led by Professor Matousevitch. has been announced. Another Russian expedition will explore a large island north of Siberia, formerly known as Nicholas 11. Land, but now known' as Lenin Land.

The possibility of Polar exploration in Zeppelins also has bepn suggested by Dr. Hugo Eckener. well-known" German designer, who flew the American dirigible Los Angeles to the United States more than a year asro.

BEER WONT KEEP.

BARRELS IN POLICE STATION.

NEW YORK, March 30

Prohibition officers seized 25 barrels of beer a fortnight ago in the course of a raid.

They were placed in a police station for safety.

When the barrels were broached to-day, for the purpose of producing samples at the trial of the. owner, it was found the barrels only contained water.

The authorities are seeking a solution of the puzzle.