SUNLIGHT 23 HOURS A DAY

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22108, 2 June 1937, Page 3

SUNLIGHT 23 HOURS A DAY

CRUISING IN THE ARCTIC CIRCLE Incidents of a tourist cruise in the Arctic Circle, including visits to Iceland and Spitzbergen, and a trip to the ice pack less than 600 miles from the North Pole, were related at the weekly luncheon of the Christchurch Rotary Club yesterday. The speaker was Mr C. G. McKellar, who a year ago joined, from England, a tourist party arranged by one of the largest shipping lines, and travelled thousands of miles in the "land of the midnight sun." The furthest north the ship had gone had taken the party to within 580 miles of the North Pole; further north than that the party could not go because the ice-pacl as impenetrable. It might be thought that at that distance from the pole it would be so cold that all moisture would turn immediately to ice, but actually the atmosphere had been very moist indeed, with a very \ high, degree of humidity, he said. Some of the winds met in the Arctic Circle were so cold, however, that the warmest of ordinary clothing was no protection at all. A call at Iceland was an interesting part of the trip. Actually, Iceland was misnamed, because much of it was good farming country on which both sheep and cattle were raised. Mr McKellar had met the Prime Minister of Iceland (Mr Herman Jonasson), who had been keenly interested in New Zealand,'and who intended to visit the Dominion. The title "land of the midnight sun" was justified in the territory within the Arctic Circle, Mr McKellar said. For 23 hours a day in the summer the sun shone, and the other hour was not dark, so that lights were not needed in the ship, except below , the water-line. There was actually no north, east, and west to be reckoned, he said. Everything was south, if that could be imagined. Ad the sun went round in a huge circle, instead of across the sky. , Mr McKellar was warmly thanked 'for his address. Mr Denys Hoare pre- \ sided at the luncheon. -