ANTARCTIC ACTIVITIES

Press, Volume C, Issue 29669, 13 November 1961, Page 14

ANTARCTIC ACTIVITIES

Mr Tennent Impressed “I wouldn’t have missed my trip to the Antarctic for all the tea in China,” said the Minister for the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (Mr Tennent) happily, when he stepped out of a Globemaster at Christchurch airport last night. Mr Tennent spent a week in the Antarctic as one of the guests of Rear-Admiral D. M. Tyree, commander of the American Antarctic force. It was the Minister’s second visit High-ranking New Zealand politicians have visited the Antarctic before, but Mr Tennent was the first Cabinet Minister to land at the South Pole, He landed in a Hercules with Mr A. McCready, M.P. for Otaki, and they spent three hours and a half there. “It was a wonderful experience,” said Mr Tennent. “We saw all the scientific work of the New Zealand and American teams, and there doesn’t seem to be any overlapping.” As well as the American bases at McMurdo, the South Pole and Byrd, Mr Tennent visited the New Zealand headquarters at Scott Base, spending two nights there as a guest of the leader, Mr A. R. Roberts. “It was extremely comfortable,” be said last night. “New Zealand has the best base of the lot There’s no doubt about that Scott Base is a very fine set-up. Extensions there depend on whether we plan to extend our work in the Antarctic—and I’m not prepared to a statement on that” On Friday, the Minister and his colleague took a 12-mile sledge trip from Scott Base round to Hut Point and over to the American ice runway. “No, I didn’t drive the dogs,” said Mr Tennent, “but it was a wonderful ride.”