THE ANTARCTIC

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 166, 13 June 1933, Page 10

THE ANTARCTIC

A LAND OF INTEREST. ADDRESS TO ROTARY CLUB. Members, of the Palmerston North Rotary Club were addressed at their luncheon yesterday by Mr A. Leigh Hunt, F.R.G.S., of Wellington, who spoke on the Antarctic and the special reference it had to New Zealand people. Mr Hunt said that he felt New Zealanders should know more of the Antarctic area as they governed some of it. The Dominion had very much in common with the Antarctic—in weather and geology chiefly. The main reason for interest in the area should be the fact that New Zealand governed the Ross Sea. This dependency was of 1,700,000 square miles and, incidentally, was the only place where one could get away from the Commissioner of Taxes. (Laughter.) The Ross Sea was discovered in 1840 by Sir James Ross. Captain Cook had voyaged inside the Antarctic Circle in 1773. In the Arctic the sea was ice-covered, but in the south the area was high land surrounded by sea. In the north explorers had the last resort of walking home, but that was not so in the south. That was a cruel, rugged place and only well equipped men could survive. The sun, of course, was six months shining and six months away. The aurora was one of the most wonderful sights of the land.

The South Magnetic Pole was 1050 miles north of the geographical Pole. I Within 500 miles of the Magnetic Pole ; compasses became useless. Both exj pauses were desolate and a 100 miles lan hour wind was common, also temperatures of 50 to 70 degrees below i zero, in the Antarctic particularly. Explorers under the old method used to watch the sun move around the horizon nnd they could tell when they were within two miles of the Pole, hut they could now get to within 10 feet of the Pole with the aid of scientific instruments. If the Antarctic Continent could put in the Atlantic Ocean one could walk from England to America, iliac was no water, there were no lakes, no flowers, no animals and no inhabitants. No woman had ever been there, although some might have seen it from whaling ships. It was perfectly healthy, owing to the temperature largely and the fact that it .was germ-free. It was not the cold that beat the men, it was the blizzard. Colds, as we knew them, were not known. In years to come we might yet have sanatoria there and fast seaplanes might do the trip in 10 hours from New Zealand. It was a silent continent and human voices could be heard one and a-half miles away and dogs seven miles away. In high country vision extended for 300 miles owing to the absence of dust particles in the air. An instrument measuring the dust particles in a given quantity of air had shown 12,000 particles in the middle of London, 15 in the middle of the Atlantic and two in the Antarctic. That would account for the great extent of vision. The ice barrier was of trtmendous thickness and was half as largo again in area as New Zealand, the speaker added. In Ross Island was an active volcano and an extinct one. The Antarctic might quite possibly have the I highest mountain in the world in a great chain there. Sir Douglas Mawson said it was a world of colour, brilliant and essentially pure. Ho had discovered more of it than any other man. There were wonderful-icebergs to be seen; some were seven miles long and hundreds of feet high. They were all of different- sizes and shapes and the shapely ones were most likely young iand tho jagged ones had perhaps been I floating about for centuries. There was great danger to the shipping in icebergs tipping over owing to their being melted below the surface of the. watei. That was the cause of the tragic Titanic disaster, he said. The geology of the Antarctic was highly interesting, the speaker added, because, as Sir l)ougl£is Mawson had said the continent had been connected at one time with New Zealand. Coal seams had been found at the Bcaidmore Glacier and fossil trees also, so that- at one time'man might have lived there quite v well. Sir Douglas thought that a meteorological station in Lire Antarctic, after a period, should bo able to fortell weather six months ahead for New Zealand. There was practically no vegetation and the only thing akin to that was a little lichen or moss on stones. All life, bird life, belonged to the sea and not to the land. Animals had been found and they were as near as possible like our common flea. But that had been a great scientific discovery. The sea teemed with life; but all life was strenuous, each creature lived upon the other. Shackleton had said that the motto was either to “eat or be eaten,” and thnt life under the ice must be anything but monotonous. Not yet 10 per cent, of the Antarctic . had been trnversed, Mr Hunt added. It might be at a future period a place of sojourn for invalids; it had marvellous colours and sights and would provide an intensely interesting trip for anvbody. Rotarian A. J. Pliillipps expressed the thanks of the members for what he said was a most interesting address. A vote of thanks was passed by acclamation. Rotarian IV. G. Black presided and visitors were Messrs H. E. Edmunds, R. J. Stewart and A. Seifert.

ADDRESS TO CHILDREN,

Later in the afternoon Mr Hunt lectured to some 1700 children, representative of 11 schools, in the Regent Theatre under the auspices of the Rotary Club, when a number of interesting lantern slides, which had been compiled from photographs taken by Sir Herbert G. Ponting, official photographer to Scott’s expedition, were shown.

In explaining the nature of the entertainment, Rotarian W. G. Black said that Rotary had many objects, amongst w'hicli was the spreading of information on matters of education interest, and the creation of better understanding. It had been felt that there was nothing more fitting than the subject of the Antarctic; the Poles themselves might be worthless, but they had attracted some of the greatest spirits of the world. Everyone must have been thrilled with the glamour of some of these great adventures, and knowledge of the Antarctic was the result of more than 50 years’ activities on the part of various explorers; the history of exploration was full of great traditions common to no other branch of history—traditions that- should be the traditions of Britons as a whole. The lecturer described the importance of the Antarctic region and its interesting features, while a number of incidents from the expeditions of Mawson and Byrd were recalled, Mr Hunt having had a personal acquaintance with both leaders. The closing stages or the talk were devoted to a graphic account of the memorable expedition of Scott and his party and Mr Hunt referred to the brave deed when Captain Oates sacrificed his life so that the chances of the others reaching safety would be improved. At the conclusion the audience expressed their full appreciation of the lecturer’s efforts.