THE ANTARCTIC

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 70, 19 September 1936, Page 8

THE ANTARCTIC

AUSTRALIA'S AREA CONTROL OF WHALING (From "The Post's" Representative.) SYDNEY, August 22. A proclamation will be issued at Canberra next week bringing into operation the Act passed by the Com-, monwealth Parliament in 1933, providing for the acceptance by the Commonwealth of an area of 3,000,000 square miles in the Antarctic, to be known in future as the Australian Antarctic Territory. This comprises all the islands and territories (except the French dependency of Adelie Land), situated south of'the 60th degree of south latitude and between the 160 th degree and the 45th degree of east longitude. The land portion consists of a plateau rising to 10,000 ft', and the coastline is about 2000 miles in length, cr about the length of the Australian coastline from Melbourne to Fremantle. Parts of the area which will become a dependency of Australia have already been the scene of important whaling enterprises, and it is believed that a trade in the production of fur-bearing animals and bird life could be developed there economically. Pelagic fishing, the farming of foxes, and the collection of penguin eggs are among the activities which, it has been suggested, are capable of development. The mineral resources in the area have yet to be explored, but the late Sir Edgeworth David, famous Australian geologist, mentioned an enormous coalfield in the Ross Sea sector. He described this as the biggest unworked coalfield in the world, about 1000 miles long and from 18 to 50 miles wide. Eminent scientists have expressed the opinion that the Antarctic may prove to be of value to Australia for long-range weather forecasts, because it is thought that reliable inferences could be drawn concerning the character of the seasons in Australia and New Zealand and the probable rainfall from a study of the melting of the ice in the Ross Sea. A proclamation issued in Canberra yesterday fixes Monday as the date of commencement of the Whaling Act passed by the Federal Parliament j last December. The Act prohibits ! the taking or killing of certain kinds of whales; and makes it unlawful for a ship registered in Australia to be -used for taking, killing, or treating whales unless licensed as such. The Act also provides- that a ship designed and equipped for the purpose shall not be brought into any port or place in Australia, or any territory'of the Commonwealth, unless the owner or charterer of the ship is the holder of a licerice. Power is given in the Act for an officer of the Commonwealth to board and inspect whaling ships, and to remain aboard them.