THE SOUTH POLE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3030, 10 April 1912, Page 38

THE SOUTH POLE.

. THE RIVAL LEADERS. SYDNEY, April 4. Presiding at Captain Amundsen's lecture Professor David said it had "been published that Captain Amundsen did not give Captain Scott notice that he was a competitor for the Pole. It ought, therefore, to be clearly understood that Captain Amundsen 'sent a message from Madeira, which Captain Scott received in New Zealand, stating that the Fram was going to the Antarctic, which was a fair held, and which was anybody's Pole. Captain Amundsen's doings were fair, square, and above-board. There had been nothing unsportsmanlike, and everything between Captain Scott and Captain Amundsen had been concluded in a spirit of high, noble, and friendly rivalry. Captain Scott will now reach the Pole, and when he returns his first action, we may be sure, will be to send his hearty congratulations to the champion who had beaten him. VAST COAL FIELD. SYDNEY, April 4. Professor David 'says that Captain Amundsen's statement that there is a patch of calm 260 miles in diameter near the Pole proves the theoretical prediction of the meteorologist, and indicates that the wind is blowing straight down instead of horizontally. He considers that Captain Scott's coal discoveries are highly important, and, in conjunction with Sir E. Shackleton's discovery, prove that coal-bearing strata are continuous over an enormous area. It is not unlikely that it will prove the largest unworked coalfield in the world. REAR-ADMIRAL PEARY'S VIEWS. NEW YORK, April 7. Rear-admiral Peary states that his belief is thnt Captain Scott reached the South Pole at the end of February. He adds :—" Two interesting problems remain for solution—viz., the exploration and penetration of the large area between the North Pole and Behring Strait and the crossing of Greenland at its widest part." CAPTAIN SCOTT'S PLANS. (Feom Our Own Correspondent.) CHRISTQHURCH, April 5. The representative of the Central News Agency, now in Uhrietchurch in connection with the Antarctic expedition, has supplied the Press with some further information given to him by Mr Kinsev. The latter received a letter from Captain Scott indicating that there was no race for the Pole. Writing on October 28, 1911, on the eve of his departure for the south. Captain Scott says: "We shall leave in high hopes of accomplishing our object despite the reverses of last season, but as there is a chance that we may not catch the ship I have decided to arrange for her return in 1913. I am fully alive to the complication of the position by Captain Amundsen, but as any attempt at a race might have been fatal to our chance of getting to the Pole at all I decided long ago to do exactly as I should have done had Captain Amundsen not been here. If he gets to the Pole he is bound to do it rapidly with dogs, and one foresees that this success will justify him. Anyway, he is taking a big risk, and deserves his luck if he gets through. Meanwhile you may be sure we will be doing the best we can to carry out my plans."