POLAR EXPLORATION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14702, 9 December 1909, Page 8

POLAR EXPLORATION.

SIR E. SHAGKLETDN'S SECRETARY'S RETURN. (Fnou Ou?. Owb Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, December 8. Mr Edward Saunders, of Christchurch, who wont Home with Sir E. Shackleton to assist in the compilation of the book describing in detail l the work and adventures of the recent- British Antarctic Expedition, oetunied to Wellington to-day, and received an enthusiastic welcome from his brother journalists. The book itself has been a great success, and should easily be the best selling book of the year. Sir Ernest Shackleton received a remarkably enthusiastic reception in England, and his lectures were most successful. The sensational dispute between Cook and Peary added 10 the interest in Sir E. Shackle"ton's work in the Far South. The British people were not taking sides in the dispute, and there was a general feeling of thankfulness that they were not Englkh men. One competent authority had summed up the position thus; Cook apparently did not get there He will never be able t<> prove it. Had he been 'a littlo more generous,, and taken one of his prinoipamen witli him, his cliim would have been much more readily accepted. The British people are now all tho more anxious that 'the Union Jack should be hoisted at tho South Pole. In regard to Captain Scott's expedition, public subscriptions are being received to tiuanee it, and the parly will include ■nine of Shackleton's men. If all goes well, Captain Scott will leave next, year from Lyttelton with a well-equipped veisel. He will make an effort lo reach King Edward YII Land, the portion of the Antarctic Continent sighted by the Discovery Expedition in 1904, but Mr Saunders saw the chances are that he will not succeed, for it has become evident that in most- years tlie ice pack to the east- of the great ice barrier is impenetrable. Should this prove to lie the case, he will make Ills base in M'.Murdo Sound, and follow the track laid by himself and by Sir E. Shackleton in the two previous expeditions. Ninety-seven miles only remain to be covered, but the journey will not- be an easy one, even with the maps and general information available as a result of tlie " Farthest Southjourney of 1908-19D9- Mr Saunders left for Christchurch to-night.