MAWSON EXPEDITION

Manawatu Standard, Volume L, Issue 107, 2 April 1930, Page 7

MAWSON EXPEDITION

RETURN OF THE DISCOVERY. REMARKABLE TEAMWORK. KING’S CONGRATULATIONS. (United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) Received April 2. 10.5 a.m. ADELAIDE, April 1. Vice-Regal, Government and public congratulations on the successful conclusion of the first voyage of Sir Douglas Mawson’s expedition were embodied in the enthusiastic welcome to the Discovery, which berthed at Port Adelaide at noon to-day. The ship, which will remain here about a week, will be thrown open for inspection, and then depart for Melbourne.

Sir Douglas Mawson stated in an interview: “We charted hundreds of miles of new coast-line. The aeroplane proved invaluable. We accomplished a phenomenally large amount of 'general scientific" work. The ship has brought back thousands of specimens which are not yet on view.”

There was a banquet in the evening, which was attended by many notable people, including Lord Stonehaven, the Governor-General, and the State Governor. Lord Stonehaven paid a tribute to the remarkable teamwork of the expedition, which was a triumph of organisation, and typical of the British race. Lord Stonehaven read a message from the King, congratulating Sir Douglas Mawson and his companions on a wonderful achievement in the face of fox-niidable hardships. Sir Douglas’s speech w r as a recital of absorbing incidents from the time of leaving Capetown last October until the expedition reached the pack-ice. Sir Douglas Mawson announced that the Australian flag had been raised on newly-discovered territory. SIR H. WILKINS’ PLANS. POSSIBILITIES OF SUBMARINE. NEAV YORK, April 1. Mr H. E. Brookes, CommissionerGeneral for Australia in America, and Mrs Brookes gave a dinner to fifty-two guests in honour of Sir Hilbert Wilkins, the famous Australian explorer, and Lady Wilkins. The British Consul-General, Sir Harry Armstrong, in lauding the explorer, declared that when the latter made his trans-Arctic flight the American newspapers claimed that he was an American. Sir Harry Armstrong and the Ambassador, Sir Esme Howard, were much pleased, therefore, when the King knighted Sir Hubert a month thereafter.

The president of the American Geographical Society. Mr Finley, wittily declared that without waiting a month the society had awarded the explorer its gold medal—indeed, three days after the flight. Sir Hubert Wilkins, in responding, noted the independence of the Australian character. He commented on the remarks made by Mr Finley and Sir Harry Armstrong, and said that he had come to the inevitable conclusion that his work was international in its benefits. Sir Hubert then made various important explanations concerning his proposed submarine expedition to the Arctic in 1931. He said that people thought the trip fantastic, impossible, too dangerous, but Stefansson, in 1913, had declared that the aeroplane would ultimately be limited to reconnaissance in polar work, but that the submarine had the greatest possibility. He (Sir Hubert) now found this borne out. ARCTIC CURRENTS. Thirteen years’ study had convinced Sir Hubert Wilkins that a submarine alone could make a practical study of the currents and depths in the Arctic, which possibly was the deepest ocean in the world, and pendulum tests to determine whether the north was truly the “top of the world.” That was derived first from the sun and summer ice tests, which to his knowledge had never been made before. Flying over a thousand miles and traversing on foot five thousand miles of the Arctic ice packs had shown no ice field in excess of twenty-five miles in length. Thus a submarine would always be able to rise and recharge its batteries for 135 miles under sea laps. There were furthermore, devices for breaking through ice,, etc. A most important factor was the ability to land parties on the ice for study at convenient intervals. Sir Hubert Wilkins, interviewed later, said that his aim and ambition was even more extensive than announced. He admitted that the Arctic was so well known that there remained little pioneer work, “but we are going to the Arctic principally to study summer ice conditions, which are sovery important a factor in all polar regions study. The experience I -tope to gain in the north will enable me immediately after the northern summer of 1931 to proceed to the Antarctic with a submarine for even more extensive investigations.”