NORTH-WEST POLICE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20075, 12 October 1928, Page 16

NORTH-WEST POLICE.

JOURNEYS IN THE ARCTIC

HARDSHIP AND DISCOVERY

[FROM Ol'R OWN - COHTJESroNDENT. ] VANCOUVER. Sept. 1!). -Vivid tales of the hardships faced by tlie North-West mounted Police in their patrols through the Arctic wastes are contained in the annual report of the famous' force.

In his 900-mile patrol from Pond's Inlet, at the northern tip of Baffin Land, lo Fury, and Hecla Strait, Inspector Wilcox met a five-day blizzard so severe that for two days ho was unable, to leave the igloo his Eskimo companions constructed for him. It was so cold that kerosene froze and had to be. thawed out by native oil lamps. On one occasion, lie climbed a frozen waterfall. Ilis census revealed 150 Eskimos in the district.

"In August 1927 Constable Anstead noted an inch of ice. on the sea at Bache Peninsula, the most northerly police post, which is within a few hundred miles of the North Pole. A glacier, moving at the rate of 10ft. a year, had almost Mocked the pass from Flagler Fiord to Kregthasocr Fiord, on the west coast, when the constable made a patrol of 850 miles in March and April, 1928. Despite the alarm of the Eskimos, he managed to.squeeze through (he narrow opening between the glacier and the cliff. For 500 yards blocks of ice. fell from above. Although the temperature was 30 below zero, the men were bathed in perspiration. An outcrop of soft coal was found. Ihev saw a fresh-water lake frozen to a depth of 9ft., but so cleat the fish could be seen below. ■ The discovery-of an uncharted bay and river was made by Constable Makinson, in his patrol down the east const, of Ellesmere Island. He found a fiord two miles wide opening into the bay. Constable i'urleigh narrowly escaped starvation cm his patrol on the ea-.t coast of Baffin. The party travelled light, owing to Eskimo reporfs that dog feed could bo procured on the way. Storms were frequent arid severe. With the food supply low a br-ar was sighted, and, returning from the kill, the constable'ifound that one of the dogx had sneaked back and fa ten a hac' of biscuits, their only store of food. The trip took 45 days. The officer at Bnche was in darkness so (hick he con!,l riot see his do<?s in fi;ont of him for 129 days. He took thorn out on daily .patrol to keep them fit. He sat up all of two nights with a sick Eskimo child, and the patient recovered _ The report, indicates verv little crime in t.he Far North, and the Eskimos fairly prosperous.