IN ANTARCTICA.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19787, 27 November 1929, Page 11

IN ANTARCTICA.

COMMANDER BYRD'S MEN AT WORK. PREPARATIONS FOR POLAR FLIGHT. ;Cv i:.-<sr-_-. uwfN-c v.; -'••'■! ■;'•> ■ y »'•■• Y'-"k T;m<-« I nnipmv and sw CIMTID ;'K«SS ASSOCIATION -BY EL.ECTB.O IE..EGK.YFH COPTEIOH: i HAY OF WHALES. N... ember -i. Professor 1.. M. Gould's geological party lias laid Depot No. •". latitmie si , .:*."> S.. w lii.ii is miles south of Little America. The parte bad n hard, slow till' from Depot No. 4. whore it picked up an additional load for tlio mountains. Thev rn-i'ivnl radio messages from the Ford aeroplane in the slight to the Queen Mau.l Hang.- last Tuesday. On the next Trij• Byrd plans to ilrop aerial photogrjirAs of the mountains whi'h will -'flHp Professor Gould in determining-Ihe- method to apjiroaeh them for geologie:il data. The fair weather which lasted a week, and made flying to the mountain base p.>j-jiil.ii- ..mled in a stiff Mow. Clouds Logan to gut her last night as the wind shifted, and in the night the wind hauled round to the west and blew so niueh drift along the surfa.-e that it covered th" windows of the houses. The contrasts in the weather here at" astonishing. It is always uncertain and .dears. ~r gets thick us the cold air shifts nut from the interior, or the warm air Mows in from the sea. To-day there seems to be every prospect of several days of overcast weather, and strong winds from East Point, from which come most of the blizzards that strike Little America. The period of waiting, however, has advantages, as it permits necessary work to be done on the big aeroplane. The caurcs of the heavy petrol consumption on the recent Higbt. which brought about the forced landing, have been found and remedied, and in a test flight yesterday the consumption was found to be normal.

Nevertheless, getting the aeroplane over the mountains to the Pole and back to the base will require skilful handling. liecau.se of the fuel load, and the added weight of the mapping apparatus. Altogether 0001b has been added to the load. I'umiirf'jider Byrd's original plans, based on the known performance of the aeroplane, provided for a pilot and radio operator besides himself and the load which could be carried to the necessary height to fly over the 10,000 ft plateau. The value of the mapping camera became apparent on the aerial survey of the Rockefeller Range last year, and the pictures of the- mountains obtained on the flight last week have increased everyone's appreciation of their geographical importance. It is evident that on the Polar flight some remarkable results may be obtained. Enough has already been learned from the film exposed on the base-lay-ing flight to indicate that the mountain ranges and lands lie in different positions and run in different directions from what had been supposed, so that an entirely new conception of the land to the east of the Axel Heiberg Glacier may be gained from a careful study of mapping photographs. Consequently, Commander Byrd has decided to add to the load on the trip to the Pole by providing for this aspect.

[Alt Rights for Publication reserved throughout th.' World—Wireless *.o "New York Times."l CZECHO-SLOVAKIAN STUDENT JOINS EXPEDITION. [THE PBESS Special Service.! DUNEDIN, Novemljer '2G. An interesting member of the crew of the City of New York, which is at present at Dunedin wharf, is a young man who hails from Czccho-Slovakia. Many people throughout New Zealand will remember him as the person who was so determined to join an expedition to the south that he paid his passage to New Zealand in the hope ot .securing u position in the Byrd Expedition party. His determination and enthusiasm have been finally rewarded, and lie is now looking forward to the time when he will t-ct foot on the Ice Barrier at the Bay of Whales. Before leaving his native country he was a student of geology at the famous Prague litiversitv, whose students number somewhere about 14.C00 drawn from all classes, many of whom, in addition to their studies, have to work to enable them to live and pay their fees Asked if. in the light of his new exjierience-. he regretted his action, he replied that he considered he had been well rewarded. "I know more about life now.'' he said, '-than when I left home, and T have gained much experience.''