POLAR EXPLORATION.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXIV, Issue 12945, 9 December 1909, Page 5

POLAR EXPLORATION.

' SHACKLETON'S. SECRETARY INTERVIEWED.

(Per United Press Association.) WELLINGTON, December 8.

Mr Edward Saunders, of Christchurch, *rho acted as secretary to Mr (now Sir) Ernest Shackleton, and assisted in the writing and" compilation of the explorer's book dealing with his latest expedition to the South Pole, returned to New Zealand to-day. In discussing with a Post representative the -possibilities in connection with Antarctic exploration, Mr Saunders &4d: "The . fatereqc V Polar exploration seems to be still'' keen at Home. Mr Shackleton (now; &ir 'Ernest) had a splendid reception in London, and, indeed, in every part' of f Great' Britain visited by him." The contest between; the two Americans in regard to the North Pole served to keep public -attention on. 4he "stark and sullen solitudes that sentinel the Poles.'-' English folkgenerally are not taking sides very -de&nitery as* far as the Cook-Peary controversy -is concerned. They are satisfied to let the two Americans thresh out the matter. The announcement "that the North Pole had .been attained did not have the effect of arousing a general desire in England that the Union jack should float over the South Pole. Captain Scott is financing his expedition by means of public subscriptions, and. he will leave next y-ear from- Lyttelton with a well-equipped vessel. He will make an effort to reach King Edward VII. Land, the portion of tile Antarctic Continent sighted by the Discovery expedition in 1904, but the chances are that he will not succeed, for it/ has become evident that in most years •the ice pack to the east of the great ice barrier id impenetrable. Should this prove to be the case he will make his b.ise in MacMurdo Sound and follow the track laid off by himself and by Shackleton in the two previous expeditions. 97 miles only remain to be covered, but it must not be imagined that the jouxney will be an easy oh^, • even with the maps and" general information available as a result of the "furthest; . Sou'c'u journey of 19J38-1909. Captain Scott, Mr Sounders says, will probably be accompanied by some members of Sir Ernest Shackleton's expedition. Sir Ernest Shackleton will also probably make 1 another attempt to reach the South Pole next year.