IN ANTARCTICA

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 3 April 1929, Page 5

IN ANTARCTICA

PREPARING FOR WINTER. . BEDDING THE GIANT PLANE. QUARTERS FOR- THE DOGS. By Russell Owen, copyrighted, 1928; by the ".New Vork Times” company and "St. Louis l’ost and Despatch.” All righto for publication reserved through thej world. Wireless to "New Vork Times.' ! Received 10.40 a.m. to-day. BAY OF WHALES, April 1. Down went- the thermometer with a thump to 47 below zero, but t lie .sun is shining a ltd sho veiling and digging wili proceed iust the same-, despite frosted toes and" noses, to the, tune- of “Poor Little Suowpile, don’t you cry; yoni’k. bo ;l , lug hole by and by; grunt and heave, saw and shove!.'’ Eye-brows, whiskers and edges of parka hoods are covered with rime, the breath mounting in big, clouds in the still biting air! Toes are congealing and mittens so stiff with frozen perspiration that they are curved like iron gloves round cue- shovel handles. It is a case of shovel aucl heave and then liai’t while the irostbitteii cheek is rubbed hack to norma I.

.Just now we are building a series of tunnels that would no a model for the subway system Sydney is talking about. A hen "they are finished it will be- possible to walk to the -houses to obtain supplies without going outside. There will be a quarter of -a- mtie of glistening channels of communications. While one group is working thus, the aviation party was -putting the- big Ford ’plane to bed for the- winter. Owen made- a huge hole ten feet deep and, with the lro-lp of the entire gang, pushed the huge- fuselage- in tnere, with the centre section and wing motors mounted. Then they erected a. vail of snow blocks around it. This building was the beginning of a new method of construction which is now oeing adopted by the subway eon-struc-tors. With the aid of ice saws, such as are used to cut ice in pounds at nome, they saw down la-nd across, and then lift up chunks of hard snow. This •snow is- so firm that it can be quarried . ike stone. It was the labour of -two days getting this hole ready, and tine mechanic and pilots did most o-f it. l'ne mechanics who have kept the planes going without faltering on all the-se cold weather flight®, Balder, Roth and Dent as, have most disreputable parka in the camp, the penalty of working where there is hot oil. They lifted “blocks until their -arms, ached, and- when they had finished the big ship was stowed away in a hangar of snow roofed over with a snow-covered tarpaulin and wit-h. room enough inside to permit them to work on itne ga-s and oil lilies and motors and other parts during the winter night. There is not a viiid in Antarctica which can get hold of enough of that structure t-o budge it; it is so carefully designed. Then the problem was to care for the dogs, so' that they wo-ulitl be protected in low temperatures. The dog drivers are the mainstay of this- work, although the aviation men help them, because to get enough) tunnels to hold eighty dogs is a, tremendous task. Trenches similar to those used to connect the houses are being dug, radiatm" from the -seal pii’e which is the food supply. When the trench is finished, holes" are cut inside fqr dog orates, and then the whole thing is covered ever with snow blocks, making a .perfect hotel corridor. Tne dogs will bo chained just far enough apart so that, they cannot fight and will lie turned 10-cise under the eye of their driver foi a certain time each day for exercise.