The Dominion SATURDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1928. THE ANTARCTIC DAY BY DAY.

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 81, 29 December 1928, Page 6

The Dominion SATURDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1928. THE ANTARCTIC DAY BY DAY.

It is probable that many people, reading the daily dispatches from the Byrd Expedition now at the Great Barrier of the Antarctic, have overlooked the marvel that radio has brought the Polar regions practically to our doorstep. The present generation of New Zealanders can remember- quite clearly the departure of former Antarctic expeditions from this country. Good-byes were said, the ship sailed, and when she had disappeared over the horizon a ven of mystery descended, blank and impenetrable. The first news oi them was when the ship returned, a year or two later, or. moi e. What a change to-day! The new marvel of wireless has enabled us to follow the fortunes of the Byrd Expedition day by day. We know what their voyage to the' Southern ice-pack was like. We have seen, in the descriptive dispatches, the picture o) the City of New York threading her ■ difficult way through the “leads” of the pack in tow of the big whaler C. A. Larsen. . Then came the break into open water, and the voyage to the Barrier and Discovery Inlet, where .they have anchored.. From now on, the fortunes of the explorers, will be followed with increasing interest. The news of their successes and failures will be one day old, not a year or more. , From another direction in the Antarctic Sir Hubert Wilkins has told of his wonderful flight over Graham’s Land from Deception Island, his present Antarctic base. To geographers, the results of the flight are of immense and acknowledged significance. Taken in conjunction with those .which Commander Byrd hopes to obtain in his Antarctic flights, they mean that existing maps of the South Polar regions will be scrapped, and a new littoral defined. Radio has so spanned the miles between the explorers and the waiting world that when the expeditions return there will be little left to tell by way of news. What will remain, and in considerable bulk no doubt, will be for the edification of eager scientists, seeking fresh data upon which to base their pronouncements concerning the meteorological, geographical, geological, and zoological mysteries of the Antarctic. If radio has destroyed the ancient romance of Polar exploration, it has created a new and not less thrilling experience for the world.

Of supreme importance in this dangerous field of adventure is the necessity of receiving early tidings of accident or disaster. Former Polar expeditions almost invariably meant secondary expeditions to find out what had become of the first, and, when discovery followed, it was too late. To-day the first whisper of tragedy comes almost instantly. The wirelessed news of ,the Nobile disaster was followed immediately by measures for relief, and the rescue of the survivors was one of the epic stories of the year that is now closing. Not only is it possible to know at once what has happened, but also the exact spot towards which relief is to be sent. If Byrd meets with trouble on one of his flights, or has to make a forced landing, his comrades will know where to find him. His radio will flash the news.

And a new marvel is j r et to come. In the footsteps of wireless comes the wonder of television, which has emerged from the crucible of the laboratory a proved and practicable success. It is now no fanciful sketch of the imagination to anticipate that at some future time the world may not only read of the daily events of Polar expeditions, but witness in wirelessed pictures their actual progress and activities. At this point one's imagination baulks. The world then may well ask, What next?