president's address. 157 



This seems to prove the presence of a subsidiary fold trending 

 easterly along the coast of Antarctica till it joins what may be 

 termed the federated folds of New Zealand and Australia, near 

 their knotting point. It will be important for future exploring 

 expeditions to trace by a systematic series of soundings the 

 position of these folds on the ocean floor, southerly from Tasmania 

 and south by west from New Zealand. 



That one, perhaps two,t well organised expeditions may shortly 

 be expected in Antarctic regions is extremely probable, as may 

 be judged from the following facts :— The Royal Geographical 

 Society, after Dr. Murray's address in 1894, appointed an 

 Antarctic committee. This committee moved the Council of the 

 Royal Society to advocate strongly the need for further Antarctic 

 exploration, and last December the Council of the British Associa- 

 tion passed a resolution strongly in favour of the work being- 

 undertaken, and various scientiiic bodies, as well as the Agents- 

 General of the Australasian colonies, have been approached op. the 

 subject. It is proposed to send a Belgian expedition into the 

 Antarctic next September, the expedition to extend over eighteen 

 or twenty months. It would be fully equipped for scientific 

 observation, and the route suggested is one to the east of 

 Graham's Land, in the direction of the recent discoveries of the 

 Jason. 



With reference to the lines on which Dr. Murray would suggest 

 that an expedition to Antarctica should be conducted, he states 

 (o/?. cit. p. 25) : — "A dash at the South Pole is not, however, what 

 I now advocate, nor do I believe that is what British science, at 

 the present time, desires. It demands, rather, a steady, con- 

 tinuous, laborious and systematic exploration of the whole 

 southern region with all the appliances of the modern investigator. 

 This exploration should be undertaken by the Royal Navy. Two 

 ships not exceeding one thousand tons should, it seems to me, be 

 fitted out for a whole commission, so as to extend over three 

 summers and two winters. Early in the first season a wintering 



+ Reference to a third proposed expedition is given in note 3, at the end 

 of this paper. 



