ANTARCTIC ISLANDS

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 17 March 1928, Page 11

ANTARCTIC ISLANDS

/NUITE a crossword puzzle has been ' c * set the British authorities. The riddle set is under whose flag do two small islands named Thompson and Bouvet now exist? Our Government has been asked by a Norwegian company for a license to carry on whaling and allied industries on these two islands which are 1750 miles south-west, of Capetown. „

It now appears that the Norwegian Government asserts that Bouvet Island ut least is Norwegian, in view of the fact that on December 1, the Nor wegian flag was hoisted there. The Norwegian Foreign Office says it has received news that the Norwegia cx- f pedition, which was sent to the iSouth-) ern Atlantic by the Brvde and Pah Whaling Company of Sandefjord, in order to find fresh places for whalecatching, occupied the island on the date mentioned and hoisted the Norwegian Hag, the island having hitherto been, regarded by the Foreign Office ’> here as.a No Man’s Land. The captain of the Norwegia telegraphs that the ; expedition has alreadv begun whale end seal catching. With regard to the island with the name of Thompson the Norwegian Government asserts that it ha s no knowledge of any such island, and, as a matter of fact, the Hydrographic Department of the Admiralty stated recently that the existence of Thompson Island wss registered with Them as “doubtful.” There are some maps which mark this island and some even underline Hie name Thompson in red but so far this seems t'o be the only proof of its being a British possession. Tlie secret, says a diplomatic authority, becomes more and more open that two rival whaling firms have sueeded in “pulling the leg” of some ! diplomatic agency. It appears not to! have occurred to those official people j v. ho started the hare that it is at leas-, unconvincing for explorers to discover an. island which they specify by an

UNDER WHOSE FLAG

co isting- name. If they knew the name of Bouyet Island, they knew all about it. It has had its name since 1739. The Union Jack was hoisted there in LS2S.

If some hardy explorer sailed up the Thames and discovered London, he would, if he wanted to be logical, pretend never to have heard of London, 'i ct we arc asked to take sriously the situation resulting from a Norwegian claim that six weeks ago an island, specified by name, was discovered. It .s not surprising that the sources of information about this intriguing fantasy are quickly drying up.

On the other hand. Captain Coo* no mean navigator, roundly assorted mat in the waters in question there was no island at all, but merely icebergs which none but an optimist could mistake. Essentially Captain Cook was no doubt right, for even if nil three of the durable specks in that, great 'waste of ice and water which a German expedition located in 1808, arc still there, they are little better than ice.brgs for any human purpose. There is little doubt that the French sailor after Whom it is named found Bouvet Island in 1789, that Lindsay, an Englishman, found its neighbour, which is named after him, in 1808, that another Englishman, Norris, visited them both in 1825, and that a German i]>u,t the emitter beyond 'dispute by c harting them accurately—and a third to boot —iu ISbS. For over a century they have been “recognised as British ” for the simple reason that no one had the least interest in disputing the claim. If Narway nOw annexes Bouvet by virtue of occupation, certainly France and probably Germany as well as Britain have a right to be heard in the matter. But the problem might well beggar the wisest tribunal, and wc have little doubt that it will be amicably settled out of court.