HEALTHFUL COLD

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 19, 24 January 1929, Page 12

HEALTHFUL COLD

HYGIENIC FAR SOUTH

GLORIES OF GLACIER LAND

THE MAWSON PROJECT

"There is every probability of the fringe of the Antarctic Continent becoming a health and pleasure resort; bacteria lose their power in tho low temperatures of the south, a fact which has been fully supported in tho record of every • expedition which has gone there, .and probably more untainted health is obtainable in Antarctica than in any other continent." The list of lures advertised in tho interests of exploring the frozen south is expanding rapidly, but the above seems to bo an entirely new one. Already ttic Ross Sea sanatorium is visualised. Thero will bo little trifles like remoteness from tho habitable world and from shipping courses —trirlos which New Zealand, herself sufficiently remote ma geographical sense, is already acquainted with—but perhaps iv the dawning ago of air-travel these obstacles will diminish. The a-roplano ia ovory day bringing new Antarctic regions under reconnaissance; perhaps at no distant dato tho aeroplane or tho airship will bring the Antarctic Continent ivithin days' travel of tho bigger and more populated continents, causing the Koss Sea .sanatorium and the Grahamland glacier park to become something more thaii tho dreams of optimists. '

It is in such a spirit that one of these, whose bacteriological remark heads this articles, goes oii to say: "The beauty and grandeur of the scenery exceed that of any other glacial resort; tho glaciers aro larger, the snow-capped mountains higher, and tbe land rnoro vast and varied. Probably all these features will be examined by Sir Douglas Mawson in the expedition which, he is now planning. He himself pointed out in his writings that the Antarctic Continent probably held tho key to some of the greatest scientific problems, and that it contained potentialities which might alter the economy of the world." '' No more remarkable record of practical achievement in Antarctic exploration exists than that of Sir Douglas Mawson and his 1911 expedition. He arid his party discovered and explored 1440 square miles of land and 400 square miles of shelf ice, giving a total surface, discovered and explored, of 1840 square miles. ' Tho next highest record, that of Amundsen, 1750 square miles, -refers only to land discovered. According to Mr. J. Gordon Hayes, who has chronicled the history of Antarctica exploration, the only loader of a great Antarctic expedition who was not a scafarjng man was Sir Douglas Mawson. "He has shown that the best results aro . attainable with scientists in command. Mawson's result, for one expedition, is magnificent, the more so when his scientific work is included." His first discovery of note was his fixing, with Sir Edgeworth David, of the South Magnetic Polo, when he was with tho Shackleton expedition in 1907 to 1909. It was on his return to Adelaide that he proposed an Australian expedition to explore tho Australian.quadrant of the Antarctic continent, and in 1911 ho' left with his party, returning.iv 1914. , ■ : . :

"Sir Douglas Mawson lias in the highest- degreo tho requisite qualities for a leader of such an expedition. In addition to his iimato sense of loadership and his high qualifications ns a scientist, he has courage of n liigh ordrder, and his epic .-journey to tho base over snow and broken pack-ice for a whole month alone, after his. two companions had perished, has been described as one ,-of the finest examples of heroism that even tho exploration ol! Antarctica has produced. .

"It if probable that tho second expedition, which be has suggested, will be arranged as early as possible; a message from Adelaide yesterday stated' that he intended to leave by train for Perth at the end of the week, probably to'sail for England, to make his arrangements. Much yet remains to bo learned from Antarctic exploration scientifically conducted. Antarctic weather has a world-wide effect, and it has been shown already that a cold winter in the WWdell Sea is a sure precursor of a drought over tho cereal area of Argentina. Vast stores of minerals are known to exist below the ice, ready to be exploited."