The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-09-29
THE SOUTH Pol E
Fresh English and Ger.
man Expeditions.
Near Nj lion Dollars Subscribed
the EMBARRASSING 10 be Built
ESreCia iy.

If the South Pole and its unexplored
neighborhood of land and sea, half as
big again as the United States, man
age to resist the effort that IS about
TO be made to penetrate their myster-
les it will be almost time TO conclude
that they are not worth bothering with
any more.
Although hansen climbed within 225
miles of the North Pole, while Sir
James Clark Ross, who got nearer to
the South Pole than any other human
begin, was at his best 700 miles away
from the object of his desires, it seems
likely that the South Pole may be the
first to be reached, for the coming eX-
petition is going to be the most elab-
crate, most thorough, and best equip
ped of any that ever set out on Pole
hunt.
The final plans for il are to be ar
ranged in September at conference in
Berlin between English and German
scientists. Expeditions from both
countries will start out about the same
time-the date has not been deter
mined defnitely-but they will start
from different points, and will follow
different routes. The affair is to be
conducted on such a large scale that
it is expected to bring about more
| changes in the school biographies than
have been made before in many a year.
| At present the maps merely show
vague little fringes of land that dis
appear into space beyond the seventy
eighth degree of south latitude. The
earliest map-makers used to fill in
such blank spaces with queer animals,
ND ic rl1n ty Of IN
the maps of today, for a whole menag-
erie of such beasts in the 100000
square miles of the South Poles mys
teriOuS domain.
That the world is not wholly Philis-
tine and Sordid is shown by the fact
that Great Britain alone is going to
spend 100000 on the expedition, and
the German appropriations indicate an
expense almost as great. Yet nobody
supposes that this million dollars will
bring a penny of interest or add in the
least to the territory of the competing
powers. Mr.. Balfour said the other
day that part of his satisfaction over
the expedition was because there could
not be any territorial rivalry between
any of the countries engaged in Ant
arctic research. He said he didn't
imagine that the most ardent advocate
of Imperial expansion was likely to
find sphere in which to carry out his
ideas in Victoria Land or the regions
around Erebus or Terror. The only
direct financial gain from this unprece-
denied polar investment would be an
increased knowledge of meteorological
conditions which might help weather
observers to be much more exact in
their predictions.
The first effective step toward the
U ;ch 0,,1 Of h int in
prise was made by Llewellyn w. Long
staff, a Wimbledon manufacturer and
scientist, who offered S125,000 for the
purpose out of his private fortune last
March. No string was attached to the
gift and no provisOs were imposed. He
was the man, by the way, who intro
duced successful prOfit-sharing in Eng
land. He evidently inherited his in
terest in science from his father, who
was one of the founders of the Chemi-
cal Society.
The Royal Geographical Society
added to the polar fund thus started
until it had about 100000. A few
weeks ago a delegation of some of the
most distinguished scientists in Eng
land waited upon Mr.. Balfour, First
Lord of the Treasury, to ask him for
Government support. The delegation
was headed by Sir Clements Markham,
president of the Royal Geographical
Society, and included Lord Kelvin, Sir
William Crookes, Professor Ray
Lancaster, the Duke of Northumber
land, and many others almost as we'll
known. Mr.. Balfour rarely has enter
tanned so important a roOmful of visit
ors. He said he believed such expedi
lions were desirable on practical and
purely scientific grounds, and were es-
pecially important when directed to-
ward the Antarctic region, because Of
its prodigious area.
The outcome of the visit was that
the Government agreed to supply 1920
600 of the 100000 needed if Parlia-
ment approved, and also to supply the
scientific instruments. Since then
some of the Australian colonies also
have voted appropriations.
Already the drawings for a ship of
700 tons are being made in the Office
of the Chief Constructor to the Admir-
atty, and bids for its construction will
be asked for soon.
4 wish we were in position to
send two ships instead of one," said
Sir Clements Markham, when asked
concerning the plan, but it will be a
great advantage to have the German
expedition starting out at the same
time especially an advantage from a
meteorological point of view, for obser-
vations which will be of extreme val
ue to science will be taken simultane-
OuSly in the same latitude, but in diff
erent longitudeS. 1t is impossible to
say at present who will be in command
of the expedition. We have plenty of
able men, but there is an opinion, in
which l share, that anyone above the
age of 80 is too old. L understand that
a professor will be in command of the
German expedition, but we don't want
a professor; we want a seaman, and
one who is accustomed to dealing with
a body of men,
1t is estimated that the wooden