CLAIM TO LAND

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20671, 9 March 1937, Page 11

CLAIM TO LAND

NORWAY’S TITLE QUESTIONED FLAG DROPPED FROM AIR LONDON, February 21. A new point in international law has been raised by the claim to territory in the Antarctic made on behalf of Norway by the explorer Lars Christensen, who sent an airman to drop the Norwegian flag upon a range of mountains. The question is whether the dropping of a flag or other mark of sovereignty from an aeroplane can be considered effective occupation of the territory. Experts admit that the question seems to be without precedent. The case of the explorer Abel Tasman is believed to tell against Norway. When Tasman found it impossible to land from a boat on Forestier’s Peninsula (Tasmania), he did not content himself with running as close as possible and pitching a flag and pole ashore. He had the carpenter strip off, sw: ■ ashore and plant the flag in the orthodox manner.

Amundsen’s dropping of a flag on the North Pole from an aeroplane is not a case in point, since there is no land at the North Pole, and it was not intended to claim sovereignty over icefields.