No Territorial Claims Made

Northern Advocate, 7 March 1947, Page 6

No Territorial Claims Made

1 The United States had not gone into I the Question of territorial claims in the I Antarctic and had made none, said i Rear-Admiral Byrd at a press conj ference aboard the flagship Mount I Olympus today. j Admiral Byrd spoke of the importI ance of the American task forces' disj coverv. training and scientific investi- ; gation in the Antarctic, and expressed i the conviction that the various nations i should .join in the establishment of i meteorological stations in the region. ; Admiral Byrd entered the conference j carrying a silver-mounted cane with : a staghorn handle, which, he explainj ed, had once belonged to the British • explorer, Captain Robert Falcon Scott, , who met his death in the Antarctic i after a Polar race with Amundsen, l Admiral Byrd said the cane had ! been presented to him only this morn- ! ing by the chairman of the Wellington (Harbour Board (Mr W. H. Price), j He had not wished to accept the gift i but Mr Price insisted, i “I am sure no one will value it more than I,” remarked Admiral Byrd, who said he had occasion to salute a hero of his boyhood. “It means a lot to me.” he said. I Admiral Byrd gave complete praise I to Rear-Admiral Cruzen for- his accomj' plishments during the -'Operation ; High Jump.” “He deserves credit for this expedition’s successes.” he said. MODERATELY SUCCESSFUL “I think we have been moderately successful,” said Admiral Byrd, who thought, however, that the expedition went to the Antarctic a little late in the season. “The ice-pack was bad, in fact very bad. I have, never known a worse ice-pack.” When he flew over the pack, said Admiral Byrd he was amazed at its extent and how close together were i the floes. A piece of secret history was pro- j vided by Admiral Byrd in his references to territorial claims in the I Antarctic and he said, smilingly, that he did not know whether he should say it for publication. Remarking that the United States had not made any claims in the Ant- | I arctic he said the question was raised : j when King George VI visited the United States. ! The King had asked to see him and ! the question was discussed in a talk with President Roosevelt and himself. Admiral Byrd then expressed the opinion that there should be no controversy over the subject and there could be no question of aggrandisement in the Antarctic. That was the substance of discussions. “Of course.” said Admiral Byrd, f “everything changes. The President is gone now.” The latest expedition, C9ntinued Admiral Eyrd. gave opportunity for testing naval equipment, both seagoing and flying, under severe polar condilions. Ho considered the polar regions were coming into more and more prominence with the shrinking of the ; world under the influence of fast, and efficient modern transport and he thought all countries had to learn the conquering of the elements. ft was evident it would be a long

j time before the Antarctic would be of any economic importance because of the difficulties of finding anything of importance and then getting it. .Discussing “the oases” which had been discovered by the expedition. Admiral Byrd said that scientifically he regarded the fresh-water lakes, free of ice. as very important. In a region 20 mites long there were lakes big enough to land aircraft. Admiral Byrd would not say whether he had made his last trip to the Antarctic until he was “on the shelf” and he said he did not feel he was yet on the shelf. He admitted that after the former j expedition, when he made a prolong- j ed isolated stay, he had been much ! affected in health for three years. j 1 “Science knows no boundaries.” said I Admiral Byrd, who expressed his con- J vietion that Antarctica was the most | valuable place left in the world for science. Admiral Byrd paid a warm tribute to New Zealand and said he had not heard one word of criticism of New Zealand in the United States where New Zealand certainly was very popular. He could not conceive of any controversy between the United States and New Zealand over Antarctica. He was deply grateful of the cooperation and courtesies given by New Zealand in the past. “We think very highly of New Zealand, indeed, in every way.” concluded Admiral Byrd.