The Star. WEDNESDAY, .JUNE 21, 1925. ALGARSSON FOLLOWS AMUNDSEN.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17572, 24 June 1925, Page 6

The Star. WEDNESDAY, .JUNE 21, 1925. ALGARSSON FOLLOWS AMUNDSEN.

Admiration for Ihc grit with -which Amundson and his companion?; fought their -way back to safety will lie linked with an appreciation of the supreme value of tiie pioneering work which the expedition lias performed. It is now established that aeroplane engines will not freeze up under Polar conditions, while it is equally certain that a landing for hcavicr-than-air machines is so hazardous as to he almost impossible, pending the development of the helicopter, which will be capable of vertical flight. Special interest, therefore, attaches io the Algnrsson expedition, which lias just left Spitsbergen to try its luck with a small non-rigid dirigible. Although Algarsson is adventuring into the silence of the Arctic with some knowledge of the conditions met there by Captain Amundsen, he must expect to overcome difficulties which were not encountered by the airmen who have just returned. Whereas, in Amundsen’s case, the greatest trouble was to find a suitable landing place, Algarsson will be chiefly concerned with remaining in the air. In a region swept by the fiercest gales ibis is not going to be easy, for ihc blimp has not the high engine-power of 'the lieavier-than-air machine and as it offers a greater surface to air pressure, it is more liable to be blown from its course. Algarsson also is late in starting, and will find himself inside the Arctic Circle at the end of the season. Although experienced in the. ways of ihc Arctic lie lias not tiie experience of Amundsen, and, further, is not backed up by a seasoned crew, tile majority being little over twentyone years of age. When it is considered that lie docs not intend merely to fly to the Pole, but to continue right over the Arctic to Alaska, the hazardous nature of his undertaking becomes immediately apparent. Still, lie. is not going into tiie North blindfolded, and if he plants the British Flag at the North Pole and completes the flight across the Arctic lie will have made history and opened up a possible route between F.uropc and tiie East, of a more practicable nature than (lie most optimistic of our forefathers could ever hav£ hoped the Norlli-west Passage would be.

Mr It. E. Holland, leader of the Eabour Parly, has repeated the stupid contention that the 2159 Labour votes east at the Franklin by-election were really the votes of Liberals who turned over to the Labour candidate rather than vote Reform. He works it out that 85 per cent of those 252(3 persons who voted for the Liberal candidate in 1922 have turned over to Labour, while 15 per cent turned over to Reform. Rut lie assumes that, in 1922, there were no Labour votes in the elec torn le, although, as a matter of fuel, in 1919, the Labour candidate for the seat polled 037, wj tli a Liberal candidate in llie field. The probabilities arc that, in 1922, tiie Labourites who went to the poll voted for Mr Masscv rather than vote for tiie Liberal candidate, whereas at lltc election a week ago the Liberals voted for the Reform candidate. Whoever desires to challenge this analysis of the voting successfully lias to explain away the fact that Mr McLennan, on Wednesday last, polled 177 U voles move than Mr Massey polled in 1919, and 0.00 more than lie polled in 1922.