WORLD’S COLD LANDS MAY BE HOTLY DISPUTED

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27131, 29 August 1953, Page 9

WORLD’S COLD LANDS MAY BE HOTLY DISPUTED

Who Owns What In Antarctica?

(Specially written for “The Press") [By A. L. KIDSON]

its territory in the Antarctic? taYand 1 p Xplore expedition, George Lowe, would like a hand Yn Hta^ob. 1 " Everest

Who owns the land behind Antarctica’s 14 non question that has never caused much brainpan coast lme is a was a pat “Who cares?” As The land * n T 6, past ' The answer uninhabitable, the question seemed hardly “ oTth

But that position has changed. In the last few years those glib premises have been cut clean away. The Antarctic now assumes jreat strategic and aeronautical importance, shows promise of vast mineral wealth, including uranium, and with the advance of science may even become habitable. Yet New Zealand, though claiming jurisdiction over 175,000 square miles in the Ross Dependency, may find she has no valid claim to a single square yard. Possession is still nine points of the law; and in the case of disputed territory possession means occupation—and ability to deiend. Thirty years have passed since the British Government, by Order-in-Council, proclaimed the Ross area a British “settlement” and placed it under jurisdiction of our Governor-General. In all that time no New Zealand official has ever been stationed there. We have sent no expedition, set up no base. “Little America” Foreigners, on the other hand, have frequently used “our” territory as a base for expeditions, scientific and exploratory. “Little America” was established right within it; and from that base Admiral Byrd made his first flight to the Pole. From it. also, the Americans explored, mapped, and aerially photographed some 1,700.000 square miles of Antarctica, while we looked idly on. Plainly, they know far more about “our” territory than we do, and are thus better able to hold it And, according to Admiral Cruzen, who visited New Zealand with the Byrd expedition in 1947, the United States does not recognise New Zealand’s claim to the Ross Dependency. She herself has not officially claimed any part of Antarctica—even in the large area still listed as vacant. But would the United States, the Anzus pacts notwithstanding, support us against the claims of any other nation? It seems most unlikely. We have done nothing to deserve it. Territorial Claims The possibility of such claims cannot be ruled out. One section of Antarctica —the Palmer Peninsula —is already contested by three different nations, Chile, the Argentine, and Great Britain; and to safeguard her •flake” Britain has had permanent stations there since 1943. Another disputed area includes the Falkland and South Orkney Islands, claimed by both Britain and Argentina. The latter Power issues laws and postage stamps, sends regular diplomatic protests to London, and talks of sending warships—southward!

Recent events have caused the United States to think about laying claims to some, or all, of Antarctica. The Panama Canal dispute five or six years back emphasised the importance of the Cape Horn route as the only alternative sealine connecting her eastern and wesern coasts. To police that line, especially in war time, strong bases would be needed on the Palmer Peninsula—already claimed, as we have seen, by three other nations. Americans say, and rightly, that they lave done more in the way of “discovering” Antarctica than has any Other nation. Nor is that claim based only on the more recent exploits of the Byrd expeditions. It includes the

work of Charles Wilkes, “a learned aad w aSCI S Ie in the Amerito h? K h ° ? rst P roved that land to be a continent. On an epic fourtook hi yage i u. a 780 - ton sloop, which h ? right rou nd the world Wilkes traversed 1800 miles of AnIblv m C °t?, I £. e ’ and added immeasurably to the then scant knowledge of that region. His reward was disgrace b-umnfri OnlUly: !“ s welc °me home a ? d ‘ up c ourt-martial, in which one hiJ“ Be ., was wearing more buttons on his uniform than entitled by his rank'

Australia’s Enterprise Austrah a ’ s approach to her “share” e Antarctic—a mere two and a air million square miles—contrasts most strongly with our own lack of realism and action. She has sent expeditions mainly in that battered old seahorse, the Wyatt Earp, established bases at Macquarie and Heard Islands, surveyed a southern air-route to Africa ?? d Europ e. For an “air line” from' Melbourne to Cape Town crosses Heard island, and also Prince Edward Island, where South Africa has not been backward in showing the flag. .Five years ago the Antarctic became the scene of a vast international treas-ure-hunt. Expeditions sailed there from eight countries—Russia, Britain, America Argentina, Japan, Australia, South Africa, and France. These were joined later by a group effort comprising Norwegian, Swedish and British interests. Various pretexts took vessels “down south,” but the main one was whaling, to which the postwar fat shortage gave a tremendous boost.

In this field also, New Zealand has been dilatory. She has sat back and watched while immensely rich cargoes have been lifted, for the taking, from her very back-door. If it has paid northern nations to bring down this far all their paraphernalia of floating factories, seaplane “spotters,” and high-powered “chasers”—with their huge personnel and running costs —we surely could have taken even greater profits. Demand for Whale Products

The world scramble for food shows no signs of abating; nor is that likely at present rates of population increase. So the demand for cheap products which the whale provides—margarine, cooking-fats, fertilisers, whale steaks —will certainly increase. Already that demand is strong, both in Britain and North America. In the East, whalemeat has always been esteemed, and is now more than ever sought after. The time may not be far when the question of who owns what in Antarctica will vitally concern us. What then, besides whales, can we hope from that wilderness? The best way to find out is to go south and see. Our scientists urge it continually; our politicians fob them off.

Coal, for one thing, is certainly there; perhaps iron. too. which we badly need. Uranium, also, for the atom age ahead. Prospecting now is no longer so difficult, with the magnetometer and other aerial devices to help. There is even a chance that the ice-sheath may be burned back by cheap atomic fuels; if so it would never return, since the sun could then warm the earth beneath. Cosmic rays can be studied there, and a score of other things that only the scientists dream of today, but which will affect all lives tomorrow.