THE RIGHT WAY TO GET TO THE NORTH POLE.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 260, 21 February 1877, Page 2

THE RIGHT WAY TO GET TO THE NORTH POLE.

(From News of the TVorkl.) Mr. Joseph Newton, A.T.G.E., writes to the following effect: —" The result of the (last Polar) expedition is that a slightly higher latitude was reached than had ever been approached by mortal man before, and that, at the last, 400 miles of unexplored territory remained between Capt. Nares and the North Pole. If we really wish to complete the exploration which has so often been begun anil left unfinished, other means than those hitherto used for conducting it must be employed. Ought there not to be in any future expedition something beyond the merely nautical element in its composition? During the Crimean war the mechanical engineer was found to be a valuable auxiliary to the military officer, and a hastily constructed railway did the duty of hundreds of men. The fact is that a combination of the same kind is needed between the naval officer commanding the Arctic Expedition and the engineer. The duty of the former, should, to a certain extent, cease and determine when his vessels have .been navigated as far as skill and seamanship could get them. Afterwards the engineer should be the commanding officer. What possible good can 100 or 200 men do distributed among a number of sledges, at which they are tugging, and pulling, and hauling, until fatigue compels them to return to their ships, without having got over a mile of fresh ground ? The discovery by Mr. Hart, naturalist to the JSares Expedition, of a seam of coal in the Arctic regions is by far the most important incident in connection with the last visit to that inhospitable place. The existence of coal suggests, unmistakeably enough, the mode of procedure which ought to be employed in any future attompts to reach the Pole. The mechanical engineer, on his arrival at the newly-found coal-bed, would commence operations—not by causing the dragging of sledges hither and thither by the action of sentient bone and muscle, but by establishing a colliery. Thus nature's own antidote to [ the bane of Arctic exploration, cold, would be obtained, and the giant force of steam would presently be enlisted into the ranks of the exploring army. Once this 11 coign of vantage" had been gained, the Government, guided by the advice and assistance of railway engineers at Home, might transport to it properly-constructed locomotive engines_, built, if needs were? semi-boat fashion, and having attached to them fast-running steel cutter drums, for disposing of ice and other impediments The necessary kind of engines and appliances for such work will readily suggest {

itself to practical men, but, generally speaking, broad-tired wheels, thc_j.voidance of cast iron, a combiuntio. -oi f light- I ness with strength, and a narrow' gauge, should characterise the ice-cutting or Polesearching locomotive. Such engines should, of course, be of the requisite horse-power to do all the pick-axe work required for the cutting off of projecting ice, filling up cavities with the debris, and to draw three" or four carriages, constructed in a rough and strong ' Pullman' style, for the conveyance of navvies, provisions, stoves, tools, etc. Thus equipped and provided, the pioneer engine would clear the road, whilst reserve trains would follow in its wake. Such an arrangement would keep the men always fresh and strong, whilst at the colliery workshops repairs of machinery, implements, and fitments generally could be effected. Ex> j perience would doubtless dictate many I other expedients tending to facilitate operations ; but, by the aid of such means as have already been named, there is little doubt that all 'engineering difficulties' in the way of the formation of an Arctic tramway would, in time be ovei'come. Engineers, when they' cannot o'ertop a mountain, tunnel through it. Glaciers might also be pierced by the engine, ' needling' at its base in a similar manner ; and, in short, there appears to us to be no substantial reason why the North Pole should very much longer remain either a terra incognita or a mar incomm, if its discovery be but entrusted to the united pluck of the British sailor and the skill of the British engineer."