FLAG DISPUTE IN THE ANTARCTIC NOW REVEALED

Grey River Argus, 20 March 1947, Page 5

FLAG DISPUTE IN THE ANTARCTIC NOW REVEALED

(Rec. 8.45). NEW YORK, March 18. Hitherto an academic issue, the matter of territorial right' l in the Antarctic materialised into a definite dispute over the raising of the American flag at the American base at Marguerite Bay, according to an article written by Commander Finn Ronne, for the North American Newspaper Alliance. Ronne, who is leading a scientific expedition in the Antarctic, says that after the Stars and Stripes were raised on March 13, he received a letter from. Major K. S. Pierce-But-ler, the commander of the British base, less than 200 yards away, asking whether the flag was intended to represent a territorial claim, and adding that, if so, he was bound to protest on behalf of His Majesty’s Government. Ronne replied that the American expedition was occupying the base built by the Byrd expedition in 1939-41, and “we have flown the American flag on the American-built flagpole at the American camp”. Ronne also informed the British commander that lie understood that the United States did not' recognise any other Government’s claim to territory in the Antarctic, nor did the United States make any claim. Pierce-Butler replied that the matter would be taken up again soon. Another dispute arose from the condition in which Ronne found the American base, which, he S’aid, had been sacked, looted, and needlessly damaged. Ronne added: “It is difficult to establish who are the culprits. Argentine and Chilean expeditions have called at the scene, and the British have been on the spot for over a year. Pierce-Butler told us that 200 men had gone ashore from a Chilean vessel and ransacked the buildings. However, there seem to be discrepancies in the British report on the conditions at the camp”. The N.A.N.A.S. London correspondent says: The Colonial Office denied that the British looted the camp.