FIRST PLANE LANDED IN ANTARCTIC.

Otago Witness, Issue 3899, 4 December 1928, Page 53

FIRST PLANE LANDED IN ANTARCTIC.

THE WILKINS EXPEDITION.

The intrepid Australian explorer, Sir Hubert Wilkins, has set out on an Antarctic expedition. Sir Hubert’s mission is to make a survey of the Antarctic region with the object of selecting suitable bases for meteorological observation stations. It is claimed that if Antarctic influences were thoroughly understood and observed, cyclones, droughts, rain, and other weather conditions could be predicted with certainty before any indication of them was manifested in this part of the world. It is hoped ultimately to establish wireless equipment at these stations, so that reports can be broadcast to the outside world of coming weather changes. That Sir Hubert will conduct the survey with characteristic thoroughness, no one doubts, and it is to be hoped that his efforts will be highly successful. Hobart was a point of contact with the expedition in the matter of supplies. It was from this port that the whaler Neilson Alonzo, bound for Ross Sea, sailed with spirit, oil, and pontoons for the planes to be used in the Wilkins Antarctic expedition. At Ross Sea, Sir Hubert and his party will meet the boat, and it is from this point and Graham’s Land that the survey will be made. It is a source of gratification to any commercial organisation to be associated with a project such as this, which may have far-reaching effects on the world’s economic problems, and. the Vacuum Oil Company Pty., Ltd., naturally takes considerable pride in the fact that the spirit and oil it markets, Plume and Mobiloil, have been selected by Sir Hubert Wilkins for use in his planes. The progress of the Wilkins Antarctic expedition wiil be watched with interest by the whole world, particularly by New Zealand and Australia.