SHACKLETON'S SAFETY.

Taranaki Daily News, 2 June 1916, Page 4

SHACKLETON'S SAFETY.

The news of the safety of Sir Ernest 'ihaekleton and his crow will come as a welcome relief to the great anxiety which has been felt on their account since the arrival of Lieut. Stenhouse in New Zealand. Know'ng that no disaster has overtaken these intrepid explorers we can await with patience the details of their trials and experience in the unhospitablc reg'ons of external snow and ice. It was in December, 1914, that Sir E. Shackleton and the members of his party established their base on the coast of the Weddell Sea in preparation for their trans-Conti-nental march. The .1014-15 season was so bad that the party did not attempt the bk; journey, but it is believed that Shac!c!eton, with a few companVns, leb the Weddell Sea ':oaat in Noven.Kr last on the 1700 mile march to the Ross Sea, it being his intention to travel across the Antarctic Continent, and, !l' possible, r«ack McMurdo Seund in I'elii'iiioy or March, and there meet the Ann ra party. We now knew that the Aurora was driven out of McMurdo Sound in May last, leaving Captain Mackintosh and nine men ashore. It was expected that the Endurance would have reached fiuenos Avres on the return journey about the end of March Inst and her failure so to do caused great anxiety, and it was considered that if the vessel did not arrive in May it must be considered that a disaster had occurred. No time was lost in taking steps to organise a relief expedition, and it is a coincidence that the arrival of the cabled :iews of Shackleton's safety synchronises with the decision of the British Government to ask Parliament to provide funds for the early despatch of a relief expediting

War 'Diary of the Sixth Division on October 3, in which he expresses the opinion that- if the advance from Kut-el-Amara was to be carried out methodically two divisions should be employed, exclusive of the garrison's lines of cohsmunication. This was a clear indication that his force was inadequate for the work it had to perform, but it appears that this most important pronouncement was not brought to the notice of the Home or Indian Governments, so that they cannot be blamed for what ensued. General Townshend could not possibly "protest." All thta military discipline permitted him to do was to express a decided opinion as to the necessity for increasing the force, and he did. Whether General Nixen. «I.i- held the chief command, was to 'blame or not will doubtless transpire later, but that someone blundered is woefully evident. In the light of tke facts disclosed by the White IPaper there can be no question that General Townshend has cleared himself from all blame, and to that extent the publication of the paper will be welcomed. ISot only has this brave and resourceful officer proved his fitness for the important command he held, but he has added to his already high reputation by the exhibition of conspicuous gallantry in undertaking what he must have been convinced was a forlorn hope. His memorable defence of Kut will furnish another (brilliant record in the annals of British military history. He only failed 'because it was humanly impassible to succeed, and this knowledge should serve as a consolation to him in the days of his captivity at Constantinople, where, it is pleasing to know, he is treated with every consideration.