"PREVENTING INVASION"

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 13, 15 July 1939, Page 10

"PREVENTING INVASION"

RACE TO ANTARCTIC

ADMIRAL BYRD'S PLANS

(Received July 15, 2 p.m.)

NEW YORK, July 14.

Rear-Admiral Byrd today referred t» the. proposed Antarctic expedition as "a race to prevent the invasion of th« Antarctic by foreign Powers." He declined to elaborate his statement, but it is understood that he was referring chiefly to a report that Germany wa3 sending an aircraft-carrier this summer to map the region between Little America and Palmerland.

Rear-Admiral Byrd revealed that his bases will be in Little America and Palmerland, with a small base halfway between. Twenty-two men with an aeroplane will be installed at each base.

The expedition is to leave Boston be-' fore October 1 and return in May, 1941. It will comprise three ships,. 160 men, 200 dogs, three aeroplanes, two army tanks, and the snow cruiser designed by the Armour Institute of Technology. The personnel will mainly comprise experts from the military services and from various Government Departments. ' The "New York Times,' 'in an cdi? torial, points out that if Rear-Admiral Byrd claims all the land east of the 180 th meridian of longitude as is planned, he will enclose two-fifths of the British-claimed Ross Sea Dependency. The "Times" adds that as nothing valuable has yet been discovered in this area Britain is unlikely to raisa serious objections.