Dash To South Pole Held Well Justified

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28478, 7 January 1958, Page 8

Dash To South Pole Held Well Justified

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 9 p.m.) SYDNEY, January 6. Suggestions that Sir Edmund Hillary had neglected his main job of establishing depots in the Antarctic for the sake of personal glopr ui his dash to the South Pole were “just plain silly,” the “Sydney Morning Herald” said in a leading article today.

“He did his job, and did it with such efficiency and speed that he found himself well ahead of schedule,” the newspaper said. “It was only then that he decided, with the concurrence of Dr. Fuchs and the New Zealand Ross Sea Committee, to go on to the Pole from Depot 700.”

"By pushing on to the South Pole Sir Edmund Hillary has added his own particular touch of panache to the drama of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition. “At no stage was there any question of a race to the pole between him and Dr. Fuchs, but, in the words of ‘The Times,’ it was ‘difficult to deny the sporting chance of the moment,’ and there will be some natural disappointment in Britain that the New Zealand party got there first. “However, the British people will undoubtedly join with the rest of the Commonwealth in hailing what was after all a Commonwealth achievement, and in congratulating the conqueror of Everest on his leading part in it.”

“That Sir Edmund Hillary and his party crossed the icecap, thereby becoming the first people to reach the South Pole overland since Scott’s expedition nearly half a century ago, would certainly be of practical assistance to Dr. Fuchs in the latter stages of his great trek.

“When the New Zealand support party left McMurdo Sound on October 14 to begin their 1200 mile journey across the frozen wastes. Hillary wrote: ‘We have no doubt it will search out the

weakness in man and dog and vehicle. In five months’ time .. . we will know whether or not we have passed the test.’ “In considerably less than five months they know that they have passed it triumphantly and added yet another page to the dramatic record of man’s battle against the harsh extremes of nature.

“It would be a mean spirit that begrudged them the extra flourish which carried them across the icecap to the pole,” the leading article said.

PRAISE FOR FEAT

“Superiority Of Man” (N .2. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 7 p.m.) MELBOURNE, January 6. It was a pity that a shadow should have fallen over Sir Edmund Hillary’s arrival at the South Pole, the Melbourne “Age” columnist, John Hetherington, said today.

“Hillary’s dash may have been ‘a deplorable breach of discipline,’ as some English critics suggest; but Australians, and certainly Hillary’s fellow New Zealanders, won’t condemn him before knowing precisely what these words mean,” he said.

In most eyes, Hillary had added a brilliant page to the tale of human fortitude.

“The scientific value of Hillary’s feat is not immediately apparent, but there is no doubting its human value in a world which is tending to forget the ultimate superiority of man to anything he creates. “If Hillary has done nothing else, he has twice—on Everest, and now at the South Pole —reminded the world that there remain fields in which the most marvellous machine is inferior.”

Commenting on “isolated criticism” of Sir Edmund Hillary’s dash for the Pole instead of awaiting the British party at Depot 700 as planned, the Melbourne “Sun” said today in a leading article.

“Thqfe may have been sound reasons for on-the-spot decisions which gave Sir Edmund Hillary a faster passage than his British partner. Dr. Fuchs. .Official reports will eventually tell the full story.

“Meanwhile, people in Australia will join with others round the world in sharing the thrill of this great adventure by the only man who has ever reached poth the South Pole and the peak of Everest.

“His triumphs show that despite all the mechanical marvels of our time, there are still occasions when great successes depend mainly upon human courage, initiative and tenacity,” the newspaper said.