THE ANTARCTIC,

Waikato Times, Volume 106, Issue 17885, 4 December 1929, Page 5

THE ANTARCTIC,

I I NORWEGIAN CLAIMS. SPECULATION IN SENSATIONS. TERRIBLE MOUNTAINS A FANTASY United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. —Copyright. COPENHAGEN, Dec. 3. Major Tryggve Gran, explorer and airman, and a member of Captain Scott’s Expedition 1910 and also of the party that found Captain Scott’s body, says Norway must be considered in any claim for suzerainty at the South Pole. A Norwegian first planted his national flag there. All the territory, from Shaclcleton’s southernmost point to the Pole Itself, was christened Haakon the Seventh Land by Amundsen. It was,' therefore, Norwegian. _ If a second country had a claim to a portion of Antarctica it should be Britain, In view of Scott’s enterprise. Major Gran says he does not doubt that Byrd flew over the Pole, but says It Is curious that after 17 years he observed traces of Amundsen’s and Scott’s camps, whose huts, being snow-built, would crumble away. Byrd’s report of polar mountains seemed to be mistaken. Ranges existed 250 miles from the Pole, possibly further south, between Scott’s and Amundsen’s routes, but no further south than 88 degrees. The Daily Mail says Major Gran, writing In the newspaper Extrabladet, asserts that Byrd’s whole expedition appears to be a speculation in sensations. Major Gran says: “After the way in which the Americans are acting, ‘polar explorer’ is no longer an honourable name. Only money, not scientific qualities nor year-long preparations, are now required to become an explorer. “The terrible mountains which Byrd describes are a fantasy. The land is on the whole a plain over which, except for clefts and ravines which must be crossed or got round, the trip might be accomplished on a motor-cycle.”