ANTARCTIC WEALTH

Grey River Argus, 10 June 1933, Page 7

ANTARCTIC WEALTH

CONTROL OF VAST AREA. Authority over about one-third, of the Antarctic continent is accepted by Australia under the Australian Antarctic Territory Acceptance Bill, which was passed by the House of Representatives recently. Id moving the second reading of the bill. the Minister of External Affairs, Mr. J. G. Latham, said the measure provided for the acceptance by the Commonwealth as a territory ] under its authority, to be known as | the Australian Antarctic Territory, of ; that part of the territory in the An- ■ tarctic seas other than Adelie Land, I situated south of the 60th degree south i latitude, and lying between the 160th degree east longitude and the 45th de- i gree east longitude. Mr. Latham said that Australia i should be proud of the work done by 1 many of her citizens, particularly Sir i Douglas Mawson and Captain J. K. Davis. He also paid a tribute to Sir Edgeworth David, who, he said, at an age when most men would not contemplate' facing such dangers and trials, visited the Antarctic region and made a most useful contribution to the work of discovery. He also praised the work of Sir TTubert Wilkins. The need I'-.-. me authority in relation t ;he Antarctic area, Mr. Latham said, came with the development of the whaling industry. Unless there was to be some regulation of this in- ( dnstry. it was likely that the stock of whales would be diminished and conceivably destroyed. As an indication of the growth of whaling in the Antarctic areas, he pointed out that in 1919-20 the number of whales captured there was only 11,369, from which were obtained 407.327 barrels of oil. In 1930-31 more than 40.000 whales were captured to produce 3.250,000 barrels of oil. Between 1919 ami 1931 more than 265,000 whales had been captured in that area. PRODUCTION EXCEEDS DEMAND. In 1930-31 no fewer than 43 floating factories, 232 whale-catchers ami 10 transport vessels owned by 33 companies. had set sail for the Antarctic. In addition, six land stations were in operation. Fortunately, economic forces had come into play, aud the oil produced that year exceeded the demand and caused the price to fall to a point which threatened to make I whaling unprofitable. The result had J been an agreement between the enterprises concerned to limit the total I yield of oil to about 2,0(10,000 barrels a year. ' Protection of another kind, Mr. Latham said, had been given by an international convention for the regulation of whaling, which would come into operation as soon as the required ratification had been made. The convention prohibited the killing of certain species of whale calves, immature 'whales, and female whales accompanied by calves. It required the fullest use to be made of every carcase, and regulated the terms of employment of whaling crews, and provided for the licensing of vessels engaged in whaling. Air. Latham said that old ideas of whaling gained from stories of adventure had to-day to be revised. Now speedy vessels were used, and whales were captured by moans of explosive :ha rpix-iis. The whales were treated for [oil at floating factories. I ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE. ■ From the /Australian point of view, said Mr. Latham, there were good reasons for the acceptance of the administration of the area. Jt had a considerable actual and potential economic importance. Parts of it had ’already been the, scene of important I whaling enterprises, and there was | reason to believe that fur-bearing ani- ; Dials and some of the bird life could •be developed economically. If eco--1 Domic development was to take place j wit hunt risking the total extinction of the various creatures in the area, there ■must be some regulation of the industries, ami there must obviously be some authority charged with the enforee- ■ meat of this and other regulations. j It must be remembered. added Mr. j Latham, that Alaska was once considered valueless, but it had since • proved to be a gold mine in the true sense. None knew what the Antarc-

tic regions might hold in mineral 'wealth. It was already known that they contained fine seams of coal. There were those who believed that they were most interesting from a meteorological point of view. These might be called dreams of the future, but many realities had first been in dreamland. At the outset, the cost would be nil. ' At any event, the necessitv of spending money would depend on the development of enterprise in the area. Mr. Casey (Victoria) said the bill marked the end of 20 years’ continuous effort by Australia. The size of the Antarctic. continent was about 5.000.00(1 square miles, and Australia was laying claim to almost a third of that area and to 2000 miles of Antarctic coastline. The bill was passed through all