ANTARCTIC RESEARCH

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27514, 7 October 1950, Page 6

ANTARCTIC RESEARCH

Dominion Participation

GREATER ACTIVITY ADVOCATED The opinion is held in Great Britain that New Zealand should indicate more positively its interest in its Antarctic territory by carrying out research work in the field. This view is conveyed in a letter which has been received by Dr N. E. Odell, professor of geology at the University of ota &?> £ ron 2, Dr Colin Bertram, director of the scot; Polar Research Institute at Cambridge. The letter refers to the proposed New Zealand Antarctic Institute, which was urged by professor Odell in a letter to the Daily Times after a public lecture on Antarctica had been given in Dunedin by Sir Raymond Priestley, vice-chancellor of the University of Birmingham. Dr Bertram writes: "Many thanks for your letter of August 25 with enclosures and news in particular of Antarctic affairs and footings in New Zealand as stimulated by Raymond Priestley and yourself. Here the feeling, of course, remains as strong as ever that New Zealand should, by one means or another, on however small a scale, demonstrate by field activity her abiding interest in her Antarctic territory. All the others with southern continental claims are now active in the field except New Zealand; even France’s tiny slice gets its attention. I am afraid that any such outside activity must bear disproportionately heavily on New Zealand finances, but then that is the inevitable penalty for smallness of population, so admirable in so many other ways. “ If the world goes from bad to worse Antarctic politics may be shelved or dealt with rough-shod, but if even slightly happier days emerge the politics of Antarctica would seem certain to develop rapidly in prominence. Then the prior activity of New Zealand will be of great importance not only to herself, but also to other Commonwealth and friendly countries. To my mind, New Zealand Government activity in launching a possible Antarctic Institute would be helpful provided—and this is of first importance—it did not become a substitute for direct action outside.”