ICY SILENCE

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 71, 23 March 1912, Page 8

ICY SILENCE

BACK FROM ANTARCTICA. * JAPANESE EXPLORERS ARRIVE. DID SCOTT EEACH THE POLE? • ___ In tfce early hours of this morning the Japanese Polar ■ ■ exploring ship Kainan Maru came in l#e Heads direct from the Antarctic. She lay. well out in the harbour towards Somes Island until a berth' nearer the city was allotted her, and then -signalled for pratique. This is the first heard of her by. the outside world since she left Sydney in November, except when she fell in with the Fram while Amundsen was away in search of the Pole. The silence of the ice world. seemed to have sealed the. lips of Ainundfaen and his party. But there was not such extreme reticence on the part of Commander Shirase and his party on the Kainan. They wero also the essence of native politeness. Lieutenant Shirase appeared to know no English^ or, at least, had not a working knowledge .of the language. Some of the explorers 'with (him,'however, were able to say that their work had been in the main purely coastal work. They had not gone to look for the Pole, but confined themselves solely to scientific exploration. ■ JVas there not an oath sworn that they would not return without finding it? one of them was asked. On thoroughly understanding the question he laughed consu'medly, ' and interpreted the question to his companions grouped around. They laughed even more do. It was new to them, they said. A DIPLOMATIC ANSWER. "Did Scott reach the Pole?" Professor Takeda was asked. His reply is worth giving in full : "Captain Scott was excellently equipped for the work he had to do. He had motor cars and other means of travelling at great speed over the country. Did he reach the Pole? I cannot say. ■He may have done." On. that important question no more was to be learned or rather could be learned from the personnel of the Kainan Maru. " , ALL WELL AND HEARTY. The decks of the Kainan were in something like harbour order, '.but there was not much room to move about. Solidly built, upturned punt-like heats were on the deck forward and aft, and they had evidently been extensively used. Of the thirty doge taken down from Sydney, six only have returned. Tho rest were .utilised to keep the survivors alive when no longer fit for work. The explorers and the crew return 'to civilisation in tho pink of condition. A heartier, healthier-looking party it would be difficult to picture. Fleshy, well-built, and obviously well nourished, the complement on the Kainan gives the lie direct to the awful rigours of the Antarctic climate, where men are properly looked after as these appear to have been. "We had plenty to eat— -rice, dried salmon, canned meat, biscuits, "plenty to last all the time." Some Tokio manufac-~ tured biscuits were produced. They resembled in flavour, shape, and other characteristics, the biscuits made in New Zealand factories. There were other signs besides their healthy ruddy appearance that all on board had lived tvell. Professor Takeda described how, when the Kainan left Sydney in November last,' she went straight for the Bay of Whales, where a party was landed, and the Kainan pioctieded in a south-easterly direction. She met the Fram, as already reported, but An.undsen was away from the ship. The next call was made, at King Edward VII. Land, whtre a coast exploring party was landed. COMMANDER SHLRASE'S STATEMENT.' "And then we went into unknown parts of the sea," added Commander j Shirase, through an interpreter. "We ! confined our attention to scientific exploration. The results will be communi-. cated to Tokio, and I am sorry that 1 cannot add more, except to say. that we returned to King Edward Land "and the Bay of Whales tor the parties who were landed there, and picked them up. We left the ice on 4th February. "W© are • all well, as ybu see, and have had* excellent health all the time. What our future movements will be 1 say. lam cabling to Tokio, and it is probable we shall remain for five days in Wellington." • ! It v/as reported that two men had been left behind when the Kainun was last down hi the ice. Here there was some mistake. Men were landed from the Kainan, as explained by " Commander Shirase, at Bay of Whales and King Edward VII. Land, but that was on this present cruise. They -were all called for and taken on board again. No one was left behind. FINE AND ROUGH WEATHER. The weather v/as at twines very rough at sea and on shore, but there were intervals of fine weather — beautiful clear days, with the sn<..w glittering in the sun. It was always healthy, however cold it might be. At sea the sturdy build of the Kainan (especially when in the ice) was. sometimes severely tested. ■ The ship arrives, however, in excellent order considering the rough character of the work she has had to do. "Engines too small" was the comment on the steam motive power, made by an officer of the Kainan . The ship, however, depended almost entirely on Bail, and relied on steam only as occasion required« "Are you glad to get back to civilisa- ' tiqn?" an officer was asked. He replied to thb eifect that the experience was one well worth having undergone. Valuable scientific work had been done, but "details of it must fii&t be sent to Japan. The life in the Antarctic was not so hard as one might imagine, provided the commissariat was ample, and properly attended to. 'No seals were seen, much less eaten, he added. There wa« a remarkable poverty of life on land. Birds were not always ulentiful. The marine life was, however, extreme1} interesting Captain Shirase officially § called upon thb Consul for Japan, Mi. '17 W. Young, as soon as he landed this morning. For nearly thirty years Mr. Havelock Wilson, secretary of the Seamen' 3 Union, has been opposed to compulsory arbitration. All the Labour leaders, iv Great Britain have urged the unions not to •have anything to do with any arbitration scheme ; but, since being in Australia, Mr. Wilson has been studying the Federal Arbitration Court, and particularly the judgments of the President of that Court. These have induced him- to change his lifelong opinions (sa,y& a telegram to the Sydney papeis), and he has cabled to England stating that he now favours compulsory arbitration as a means of settling industrial disputes. "Judge Higgius," he says, "is an impartial man and » great Judge. You do not seem to kupw in Australia ho,w good hp is."