The Hawera Star. FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 1928. ANTARCTIC EXPLORATION.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 1 June 1928, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 1928. ANTARCTIC EXPLORATION.

Delivered every evening by 6 o'clock in Hawera. Manair.. Normanby. Okaiawa. Eltham, Mangatoki. Kaponga. Alton, Hurleyville Patea. Waverlev. Mokoia. Whakamara, Ohangai, Meremere. Fraser Road, and Ararata.

New Zealand is again, to be made the jumping-off place for expeditions to the Antarctic. This year the Dominion is to fee visited by two (men eminent in the field of exploration, Commander Byrd, an American, and Captain Wilkins, an Australian who has spent so many years exploring the 'furthest comers of the earth that onlookers seldom consider him as a native of any particular country. These two leaders, who have both, won fahie as airmen, will engage in a friendly race with the South Polo as their objective, but they seek to do more than add another conquest to their long Tecord of adventures over trackless' wastes. The whole region challenges the scientist as well as the explorer. In the l Antarctic is an enormous tract of unknown country. This region differs l from the frozen, north in being a land area. It is a continent twice the size of Australia, with a shore-line partly explored and certain portions 1 of its loftier inland features known through their traversing by Amundsen, Scott- and Shackle'ton. In what remains .to be discovered is an attraction felt by many scientists, and both expeditions are planned to do something toward filling in the great gaps in human knowledge that have long called for such endeavour. In- contrast with the Arctic region, where the influence of large bodies of water, and particularly that of the Gulf Stream dissipating itself off the coast of Norway, has a modifying effect oan temperature, Antarctica has an extremely low temperature, which oven in summer registers 30 or 40 degrees below zero. This makes impossible the maintenanceof life in the forms plentifully represented .in the Arc tie. So far, its fauna has been -found to include only ilsh, seals, birds and some examples of microscopic organisms. But the discoveries made by the biologist of the Shacklefon expedition support the expectation that in seme of the Antarctic’s lowland

areas there may -be found: many forms of animal life, very different from those known elsewhere and capable of resisting- the extremely low tom.poxaturs that generally per vail. In the ■weeds at the bottom, of inland lakes, and even in the ice itself, this investigator came upon, abundant microscopic creatures - tiny bearlike animals, sTirim-ps, it.hreaidfwomis' and. ot'li(yr ani nute organisms. He subjected these alternately to artificial cold and heat, finding them able to live in temperatures ranging from 40 degrees below zero to many degrees above freezing point. He discussed the problem so presented. Were these creatures surviving forms of life from the remote times when Antarctica had a milder climate, and a vegetation inclusive of the higher plants and coral beds wore in. course of formation, or were they colonists' from temperate regions, having traversed the ocean under present-day conditions? He found facts 1 favouring these different views, and left the question undecided. What is clear, however ,is that creatures having great tenacity of life and marvellous adaptability do live in this region, and Commander Byrd has advanced the feasible idea that there are wide stretches of lowland where animal life, much of it in a Completely new form, may be found in: abundance. Some of these "great blank spaces, ’’ indeed, may not have extreme experiences of low temperature, and remarkable biological discoveries may be made there. Twothirds of Byrd’s party arc to be chosen for export work, and Como of these, judging by the particulars he gave in August last, are to devote themselves to purely scientific tasks. This adds considerably to the interest and value of (his project. It will have particular interest in this Dominion, in view of New Zealand’s administration of the Ross Dependency, which, by the way, extends right to the Pole. .