ARCTIC RICHES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22775, 8 July 1937, Page 8

ARCTIC RICHES

(RUSSIAN ENTERPRISE DEVELOPING RESOURCES LARGE-SCALE OPERATIONS EXPLORATION AND TRANSPORT [from our own correspondent] VANCOUVER. June 9 Canada and the United States, both actively engaged in unrolling the map of civilisation and progress in the Arctic, have been watching with close interest similar development in the Russian Arctic, which has reached its zenith in the establishment of a scientific post near the Pole. Fran 75, Josef Land, which is the base of Russian Polar expeditions, is approximately on the same latitude as the Canadian and American farthest north settlements, at Bache Peninsula, in the Northwest Territories, and Point Barrow, Alaska. A scant 20 miles separates American and Siberian territory on each side of Bering Strait. Far to the south-west is Attu Island, most westerly of American possessions in the Aleutians, and nearer to Khabarovsk, capital of the Soviet Far Eastern area, than to any American settlement. Great Coal Basin Russian development on the Pacific and. in the Arctic is proceeding so rapidly that Khabarovsk, a few years ago a wilderness outpost of 100 souls, has now a population of 100,000. Vladivostok, supply base for the Far North, is now as large as Vancouver.

The natural resources of Arctic ] Siberia are tremendous. The Tungus coal basin has an estimated reserve of 400.000.000.000 tons, while the oil deposits in, the same sector and in the southern interior are said to bo sulfi-1 cient to supply the entire Soviet Union. Once holding complete supremacy in the field of fur trading, Russia is now developing rich fur-bearing territory j in Siberia. Fishing off the Kamchatka coast rivals that in Alaskan waters. Last year the Russian whaling fleet caught taore than GOO whales. Networks of Transport The real development began with the opening of the Northern Sea route from Vladivostok to Murmansk, near Finland, the most northerly ice-free, port in the world. Sixty-five freighters were sent over it last summer, and 19 permanent stations, en route, were established. From the transsiberian railway, now a double track to the Pacific, spur lines have been piercing the north for hundreds of miles. Day and night shifts are driving the steel rails into regions where the temperature drops to 50 degrees below zero. Weekly airway schedules are operated between Siberia and Moscow. Forty-six exploring parties, numbering 3SO men, were sent forth last year by the Soviet Arctic Institute to develop the Far North and organise transportation.