POLAR EXPEDITION.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 26 May 1925, Page 7

POLAR EXPEDITION.

NO CAUSE FOR ANXIETY. WHAT MAY HAVE HAPPENED. VERIFYING HIS POSITION. BY CABLE—PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT. (Received May 26, 11.30 a.m.) LONDON, May 25. Commander Prestrud, naval attache at the Norwegian®Legation, who accompanied Captain Amundsen on his •South Pole expedition in 1912, in an interview by the Evening Standard’s correspondent, said that he whs of opinion that there was no present cause for anxiety. He regarded calculations of distances and probable flying times as unreliabe as Derby tips, but he preferred to examine the possibilities. Captain Amundsen had two good Italian machines fitted with reliable Rolls Eoyce engines. When he left they flew so well that they disappeared in five minutes. Assuming that everything worked well, they would reach the Pole in five or six hours, but what would happen then? When Captain Amundsen was at the South Pole he took two days to verify his position. He had to send men 25 to 50 miles in four directions to make the necessary calculations. Captain Amundsen must similarly prove that he hacl actually reached the North Pole. He might be_ 50 or 75 miles aivay in the first instance. Captain Amundsen would certainly not leave before he had made the necessary calculations, without which his results would be regarded as scientifically valueless. These calculations might occupy two or three days, owing to cloudy weather. —A. and N.Z. Assn.

MORE SPECULATION

GOOD NEWS STILL POSSIBLE. Received May 26. 1.40 p.m. LONDON, May 25. Commander Worsley states that if Captain Amundsen landed'on a smooth flow he might make a long ski ran to the Pole. Good news was still possible for the next five days, though the chances of so simple an outcome were by no! means great. Algars®on would still await the delivery of the dirigible, which Commander Worsley thinks might reac-h Spitzbergen to- render aid to- Captain Amundsen in case of misfortune. — Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.