No N.Z. Reconnaissance Party For Antarctica Next Summer

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27683, 13 June 1955, Page 10

No N.Z. Reconnaissance Party For Antarctica Next Summer

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, June 11.

Because of difficulties of obtaining a ship at short notice, there would be no reconnaissance for a New Zealand base in the Ross Sea next summer, said the chairman of the Ross Sea Committee (Mr C. M. Bowden) today. • Negotiations were proceeding on the [selection of the leader of the expedi- ! tion, which would leave New Zealand in the summer of 1956, and an announcement would be made shortly, said Mr Bowden. Requests had been sent to both Australia and Britain for the inclusion of New Zealand observers in the expeditions to be made by both countries into the Antarctic in the coming summer, he said. “We are asking that two New Zealand observers be included in the British expedition which will set up the Antarctic crossing starting base in the Weddell Sea this summer, and also for the inclusion of observers in the Australian chartered ship Kista Dan when it goes to the Australian base at Mawson,” said Mr Bowden. A ship for the New Zealand expedition in the summer of 1956 would be chartered by the British committee, said Mr Bowden. No decision had yet been made on the ship, and further advice was awaited from London. “The same thing app’ies to the stores and equipment.” said Mr Bowden. “It is absolutely essential that they should be standardised right through the expedition. A member of the expedition will probably go to London later to consult with the expedition management committee about these matters. “No appointment has yet been made: that’s definite.” said Mr Bowden, when he was asked to comment on a report that Sir Edmund Hillary had been appointed leader of the New Zealand Antarctic expedition. Mr Bowden said he expected to make an announcement in a few days. “The decision not to send a New Zealand reconnaissance party to McMurdo Sound this summer is not unexpected,” said the secretary of the Ross Sea Committee (Mr A. S. Helm). “Ice conditions there are fairly well known, and the area is reasonably well charted.” The location of the McMurdo Sound base would be decided when the expedition arrived in the area in the summer of 1956, he said.

“We may use Captain Scott's old base on Ross Island, depending on conditions and if the base is still standing,” Mr Helm said. “We would prefer to get as close as we can to the Ferrar Glacier, where the trans-continental party is expected to emerge from the mountains near the end of their 2000mile crossing.”