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Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 561, 14 January 1929, Page 8

BYRD FLAYED Not all Americans are hero-wor-shippers, as witness this outspoken comment by an American writer, E. G. Moore, with reference to the Byrd expedition: ”... What a difference between Wilkins and Byrd! Wilkins and Eielson start out with a handful of men, and reach their goal by their own hard work and perseverance. Afterwards they speak of their hardships as being part-of the day s work. But Byrd! After months of writing articles about the difficulty of getting men as gallant and hardy as himself, lie boards his craft like a conquering hero, midst tooting of horns and beating of tin pans, and mounts the poop in stately grandeur while the crew sweat below. When near the Pole they pass the dead-line from beyond which no person but Byrd himself may send back articles, lest they might not exaggerate the hardships enough. How terrible it must be to be away from civilisation with no consolation except phonographs with stacks of records and radio and a piano and cigarettes and five-foot bookshelves, and not knowing where the next meal is coming from till the cook beats the gong in the galley. And the racking suspense of waiting for word from his staff that all is well, and the path to the Pole is blazed and strewn with roses for the interpid explorer Byrd. Let us pray!/- ___