THE COLONIST. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1913. THE LOST EXPLORERS.

Colonist, Volume LV, Issue 13648, 13 February 1913, Page 4

THE COLONIST. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1913. THE LOST EXPLORERS.

At'the end of four days' confinement, in their last {Samp, only eleven miles froriV succour it was a physical irnpossibilty, to. reach, his ihree\ companion^ at <roe "point of death, and his own strength fast obbing, Captain; Scott the last words of his message the nation, anappeal toit ■&> make the future com-fprt-of their dependents its care. '. Such an .appeal, written: under-such circum:stahces r is an eloquent testimony of the graWl un&eifishneps, of tl*e. man,, whose last thought on the brink of an'awful death was for those upon whom the impending tragedy. would fall so heavily.. Without' .such: a moving appeal, the nation "would have been placed under a, sacred obligation 'to provide v for the -widows.and dependents in a inannor. commensurate with the sacrifices of; their great dead in tho cause of science, .but'the leader's charge invests the nation's duty with additional solemnity. As was to have been expected the.discharge of the duty is being undertaken in a generous spirit, as our cablo messages from London this morning indicate; and British syrhpathy, never appealed to in vain on great occasions, will speedily make the most • ample provision. Tho filial-series of disasters after the full object of the expedition had been attained no human foresight.could, have obviated, and no reproach attaches :to the ;oi'ganisatioii arid, equipment for^i tho'Polar dash. ;"Fipiri tho first linex/ pected. ;. dfifficultfesv endouritereck "Luck," v wrote "Gapt^iii. Scott in Jet-., ter 'lir6uglii'-backvby',.):,?^d!;.forra;] Nova last , yoar, ' 'has been V j)resistently r against . us. ■*:'>. In ; ;F<Jbruai-y. r 1911,. he; hilngelf • nari-owly escaped death, and-shoi-tly afterwards a <:]break-up of the ice caused the. death of several,ponies./ The dogs then suffered'-from1 a mysterjr ous diseas^j arid several of them died.; The. .motor sledgcs,^^ ''from.;, which \ much hadjbeori hopedj next failed, and ha<irt<> bo abandoned.'■-; These : untoward^occur;rerioes delayed the start for the Pole until, very late in the season, and. during the southward march extremely ; bad weather was encountered- The arrangements for this march were very com-! plete, as we were told when tho Terra Nova brought news last year of the doings of tho expedition. The party making, the Polar dash1 would consist of sixteen specially chosen from among the hardiest men. They would have to travel at given intervals, and four would go back en each occasion. The fittest would be, picked to go on until only four remained: Theso would make the final dash.' By this process;.1 of elimination,' Captain Scott hoped to! accomplish His; o,bjecta : As we •••now!. know the arrangement Vprkad perfectly until after the -Polo had boon actually reached, arid hilt for the terribly uni .fortunate illness of and , a subsequent accident to -a member? •of the partjyi there is no,-reas6n to suppose that,it would not have enabled tlic explorers Ito regain . their" -base' camp in '.safety. The remarkable secrecy preserved wjien tho Terra Nova .touched; it Oamaru' on Monday concorning>tiho filial catastrophe is jiaturally a subject "M criticisni, it being hold with a go ; o^: doal of ■:^reason; that Australasia, whicl was 'closely in-^ tercstod in the: expedftion,- should not; have becai left in'ign|fearice pftheVbruo etate of affairs riiiWtiiob%er./sides of' tlio world had;;b^n%f)l; ise>d in; accordanco with #.:;C#raJqe/^ Sydrvey ''Paii^elflfeaph'^e^eslsesan; opinion mah|>^W&.^^^

that such an item as the destruction of the exploring party should not have been 'commercialised. Against this, however, it has to be remembered that the principal members of the party on the Terra Nova woro in a difficult position. Captain Scott depended for a considerable measure of the finance of the expedition upon the payment of tho Central News Agency, of London, for the exclusive siljpply of the first news after the vessel's return. On previous occasions, as a Christchurch paper recalls, he adopted precautions that ap- ! pcared unusual jat the time to carry out this contract. He considered iit was necessary to take the Terra Nova to an .out-of-the-way New Zealand poit from which the message to London could be sent without any information leaking out before the proper time on the first return on 27th March, 1911. She put in at Paterson's Inlet, Stewart Island, one of the quietest seaports in tho "Dominion. On her next return on Ist April, 1912, she made Akaroa her port of call, and a long message sent by Captain Scott was telegraphed from that place to London by a representative of the Central News Agency who had gome from, London to meet her. In putting in at Oamaru on the present voyage the Terra Nova anay have folr lowed the same instructions as sent: her to Stewart Island and Akaroa on previous occasions. Evidently Jbhe snrvivors deemed.it incumbent upon them to carry. out vthe arrangement, the special circumstances notwithstanding, that their dead leader .would have adopted -had he been" spared to return arid himself xtell the story of their achievements.