SIR HUBERT WILKINS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21765, 3 April 1934, Page 12

SIR HUBERT WILKINS

Sir, —To have .seen and heard Kir I Hubert "Wilkins, to say nothing of his wonderful pictures, 1 reckon to be among the greatest treats of a long lifetime. Sixty-five years ago I heard, in England, l»ob Boy MacGrcgor tell the story o* how he paddled his own canoe, which be had beside liim, over the long reaches of the river Nile, and also of the Biver Jordan. In 1907 I was standing on the wharf at Port Chalmers when I saw Captain Scott waving his farewells from the Terra Nova before leaving on the journey that ended in his tragic death. I heard Shackelton tell the story of his first brave attempt to penetrate the frozen solitudes of the Far South. I listened to Mawson's modest account of his adventurous experiences in the same region. But outstanding among them all, in the area of his explorations, in the variety of his means and methods, and in the startling character of his achievements is Hubert Wilkins. To this must bo added a facility for obtaining splendid views of what came under his observation in his widelyextended movements over land v knd sea, and under the sea, and presenting them to the public,' which no other explorer of the type has approached. He is not the only man who has risked life and limb in the endeavour to unlock the secrets of nature that lie ice-bound both in the Arctic and the Antarctic zones. But he is the only man who has shown his belief that the North Pole can be reached by a submarine by making an attempt in that direction, an attempt that yielded such promising results that at the earliest opportunity he is going to try again, and with a greater confidence of success. Giving honour to whom honour is clue, who shall say what limit should be put to the honour due to a man of such amazing courage, marvellous resourcefulness and indomitable pluck and perseverance as the man who has been latelv among us? Hats off to Sir Hubert Wilkins! W. «T. Williams.