The Timaru Herald. SATURDAY, JUNE 3, 1916. THE EXPLORERS.

Timaru Herald, Volume CIV, Issue 15979, 3 June 1916, Page 8

The Timaru Herald. SATURDAY, JUNE 3, 1916. THE EXPLORERS.

■Sir Ernest Shaeldeton lias escaped the lilt!' of Scoff and Franklin, and thuL is •■■nod news. JI is plain, however,' thai I he twcniy-iwo men whom lie had (o lciivi.- on Klejiimm, Island, t-.vo liunlii'i'il jnilcs .-<oiil.li of ilir. l-'aikliiiifl Islands, alter (he .Knduranco Jiad become a w.reek, arc in an exceedingly dangerous -'osi'liou, and anxiety must lie jell i ill the\can. lie taken oil', ;i S well as I lie men left, perforce, mi (he shore of lioss Sea l>y Ihe Aurora. Th" JaHer are in Jess danger- to (lie extent that tliey have more land room, and are noi likely in run s-Inn-l iif Mippims. Sir Kriieu

Shackleton, owing l to inclement seasons, was not able to allemiit the hazardous journey of 1700 miles, across tlie Pole from AVeddell to Ro.ss Sea, which was the dearest object of his expedition, but on board the Endurance, before she sank, and in his long voyage in an open boat, lie must have hud excitement quite as thrilling- as any to be honed for from the land trek. It lias been tins explorer's misfortune more than his fault, perhaps, that his present expedition lias been made at the wrong- time to attract the same interest of the public, up till now, as was felt in earlier expeditions to the Far South. The war, which burst, on Europe when its preparations were complete, made it seem a rather frivolous adventure, when otherwise it might have seemed to many an engaging one. Science was admittedly a secondary object of the expedition, though great plans were made for scientific observation;. The project of a trek across the Pole from sea to sea savoured of recordbreaking- after the main record had been won and could not be challenged. The spirit of exploring has its use in normal times, apart from any material objects that may be gained. The display of it helps to keep alive qualities of hardihood and energy that are needed by the race. Even the spirit of dangerous record-breaking- has the value of a hardy sport. But hardihood and energy arc needed now for other purposes; there is not the slightest fear of their decadence at the present time, and though; when the war broke out, it was both too early and too late for the abandonment of the expedition then about to sail, after months of preparation, its departure in the first month of the war robbed it naturally of all but passing interest.

The demands of the greatest war yet known have become far more exacting than they were generally believed to be in August 1014, and the time is not one when relief ships for explorers can be easily spared. Attempts must be made; iniinediatelyj how ever; to take off' the men at lloss Sea and on Elephant Island. It will be fortunate if those left on the storm-lashed island can endure till rescue comes. That more interest will be felt by the world at large in Sir Ernest's discovery of hundreds of miles of new coast line, which he has named "Cairo," in the frozen south, than was caused by the unveiling, a year or so ago, of enormous new archipelagoes by Stefansson in the frozen north, must be doubted by us. The scientist may be thrilled by these discoveries of vast, uninhabitable land, with "great glaciers" as their chief attraction. Atiparently l.ie cannot have enough of ice. But useful scientific curiosity should be lamely satisfied now that both the North Pole and the South Pole have been reach:;d. a lid even the Antarctic seas have given up their fishes aiid the mystery of their currents to .-n raaii.v expeditions as, in recent years, have braved their rigoui's. A. value might be.found for Shackleton's and Stefansson's austere new lands if they should be sought by Pacifist's, who might build up in them the perfect State of pure defencelessness, and tell the Arctic or Antarctic wind that, "thou art not'so unkind as man's ingratitude," or aggressiveness. There they could practise their ideal tenets without fear of molestation by designing enemies, or daivrer to their own community. Short of this use. the world has all the land that it. requires, and the British Empire will be more concemed to guard the Cairo which it knows than to think about the Cairo few will ever know. It is more concerned to keep the British Flag fly i no- over fair lands where it flies to-day. than to raise it above new, uninviting lands, which no one can ever reach except explorers. The scientific results of Sir Ernest Shackleton's expedition may have their interest for scientists, ft. is hard to think., however, that they can have any present, nv much future importance for the world at large.