SIR DOUGLAS MAWSON.

Otago Witness, Issue 3862, 20 March 1928, Page 16

SIR DOUGLAS MAWSON.

VISIT TO THE DOMINION.

INTERESTED IN FIORDLAND.

It is only a year since Sir Douglas Mawson was in New Zealand on his way back from England, and he arrived in Wellington on Tuesday from Sydney by the Marama to spend a few weeks in the Dominion before leaving again for America and England on business combined with pleasure. Sir Douglas Mawson, who is looking the picture of good health, informed a Dominion reporter that, as a geologist, he was very much interested in the New Zealand fiords, which many travellers and scientists considered to be the finest in the world —much more picturesque and awe-inspiring, for example, than the Norwegian fiords, which, Sir Douglas said, were bare and bald as compared with the rich drapery of primeval forest which cloaked the steep sides of the picturesque Milford Gorge and Dusky Sounds. He intended to spend a little time there to try to find out for himself whether these fiords were the result of ice action in the glacial period, as many contended, or just ocean-filled rifts or cracks in the earth’s surface. THE ORIGIN OF THE FIORDS. “ I think it was your late Mr Morgan, a geologist of note, who first suggested that the Southern fiords were not the result of glacial action, but -were simply great earth cracks of some remote period. Mr J. XV. Gregory, who also wrote a book on the origin of fiords, was inclined to agree with Mr Morgan, despite certain evidence to the contrary adduced by other geologists who visited the place. It is, therefore, a sort of show place for the geologist, and I am looking forward to my visit. “It is a pity that Milford Sound appears to be a little off the track,” said Sir Douglas, “ as it is a really wonderful sight. Some years ago, I believe, there used to be excursions to the sound, and on occasions the Melbourne steamers would call there. Surely if that sort of thing were done 20 years ago, it could be done now, as there must be more people travelling round looking for the unusual in Nature now than then. Milford is too precious a jewel to be hidden away from the world, and visited bv only a few dozen people every summer.”

ANTARCTIC WHALING. Being interested in the Antarctic, and its world of waters, Sir Douglas confessed to being anything but elated as to the success of the various whaling companies which have been operating in Antarctic waters on this side of the globe. “ I have been at some pains recently,” said Sir Douglas, “ in urging upon the Commonwealth Government the necessity of forming and exercising . some control of whaling in the Australian sector of Antarctica:! waters, where there are great whaling possibilities. “ You New Zealanders have Norwegian companies whaling in the Ross Sea and in those territorial waters which extend to the east of the sea, but in these cases you exercise control; but there is another company, working out of Hobart, in New Zealand Antarctican waters, which is not controlled in any way. It is true that all the ships have returned with full cargoes before- the end of the season. Jhat may continue for a few years, but without such control as I am urging the Government of Australia to exert, such harvest may not always reward the many whaling ventures that are likely to be based on the bountiful season just ended. “ The situation calls for rigid, control and close co-operation, so that such a thine as killing everything at random will not denude the sea of whales. The whaling business at the Falkland Islands is carefully preserved. Only persons or companies obtaining a permit from the Committee of Control, sitting in London, can hunt whales in those waters, and any abuse of the privileges extended to such people may mean a reduction in the number of permits issued. Indiscriminate slaughter may easily produce bad seasons and heavy losses, but if control is wisely exercised the seasons may be made uniformly satisfactory.”

USES OF WHALE OIL. Asked as to the uses of whale oil, Sir Douglas Mawson said that these were many. One well-known virtue was its valuable properties in the dressing of leather. But is was very rich in glycerine, and in war time became an urgent need for the supply of that commodity in the manufacture of nitro-glycerine, a service to which most of the oil from South Georgia was put to in war time^^—. One other of its uses was its itility in tempering steel in the manufacture of cannon, whilst the residuum of fat was, or could be, he understood, converted into a kind of margarine, for human consumption.

Sir Douglas stated that he would probably be from two to three weeks in New Zealand.