SUNNY ARCTIC

Greymouth Evening Star, 28 July 1936, Page 4

SUNNY ARCTIC

HOME OE SPAS. "Ely to the Arctic for health,” may become a new travel slogan. Greenland’s icy mountains and the polar regions in Ellesmere Land —where the sun shines continuously for four months in the summer—will become a paradise for tubercular patients -in the next few years. Such is the belief of Mr Edward Shackleton, son of the late Sir Ernest Shackleton, the explorer, and organiser of the recent Oxford University Ellesmere Land Expedition.

"I know of any number of places in the Arctic that would make ideal conditions for sanatoria where tuberculosis and other diseases could be treated." he said. •'Pure air and sunlight are essential for the cure of people suffering from lung troubles, and the finest air in the world is to he found in the Antarctic and Arctic Circles. It is dry, pure, invigorating, free from dust and germs. ‘•As for sunshine, there is nothing

to beat the Arctic. In the summer, Die sun never sets for four monthsFrom the big May thaw to the September free-up the Northland sana-

toria of the future should ensure the quickest possible recovery for tubercular patients.” There is a popular impression, added Mr Shackleton, that the polar regions arc perpetually in the stranglehold of icebergs and glacial fields, that they are always freezingly cold. Nothing could be further from tiie truth. At the latitude of 78, for instance, the summer temperature rises to 59 degrees Fahrenheit during July and the radiation of a brilliant sun keeps the body glowingly warm. Flowers bloom; there are innumerable birds and occasional butterflies and bees. The sun is so warm that even the Eskimos are burned black owing to the enormous radiation of ultra-violet rays. Aviation means people in search of health could reach Northland in a day.

Already the question of establishing sanatoria in the Arctic regions of Russia is being considered.

An official of the Soviet Embassy in London said: “It has been discovered that the atmosphere in our Arctic circle is very beneficial to tuber-

cular patients and sufferers from other diseases. "Soviet authorities have appointed a commission of five professors to study the whole subject.”