238 POLAR PROBLEMS 



1926 an even more northerly post was established on Ellesmere Island, 

 on Flagler Fiord, Bache Peninsula, in 79° 4' N. and 76° 18' W. This 

 is one of the most northerly official stations in the world, being only 

 about 750 miles from the pole. 



Indeed, Canada has now established a periodic ship patrol of 

 Ellesmere Island and neighboring lands. In the summer of 1924 

 a building was erected on the west shore of Rice Strait, near Kane 

 Basin, north of Craig Harbor, in latitude 78° 46'. The intention is that 

 the police at Craig Harbor shall make a patrol to Kane Basin during 

 the winter. A second permanent post was opened on Devon Island, 

 and there is also one at Ponds Inlet on the north coast of Baffin Island, 

 where the Hudson's Bay Company has a station. In 1925 the an- 

 nual voyage of the ship Arctic commenced about July i as usual, 

 and still other posts are to be established in this region.' Melville and 

 Bathurst Islands are mentioned as possibilities. A glance at the 

 map will show that Ellesmere Island and Devon Island, with Baffin 

 Island and Bylot Island to the south, form the eastern fringe of the 

 Arctic Islands of Canada, 



The Canadian Government has also been careful to preserve its 

 rights in the matter of explorations, both positively and negatively. 

 The Stefansson expedition of 1913 received instructions to reaffirm 

 any British rights at points which the expedition might touch. Both 

 Rasmussen and the Danish Government were formally notified by 

 Canada in 1921 that any discovery of Rasmussen would not affect 

 Canadian claims. 



No relevant diplomatic correspondence between the United States 

 Government and the Canadian Government has been published. 

 However, the Prime Minister of Canada said in the Canadian House of 

 Commons on May ii, 1925, when asked for the papers about Wrangel 

 Island, that som,e of the correspondence might be regarded as con- 

 fidential by the Government of the United States, indicating that on 

 that question at least there had been some correspondence; and on 

 June 10, 1925, in speaking of the Canadian claims in the Arctic general- 

 ly, Mr. Charles Stewart, Minister of the Interior, said: "A dispatch 

 dealing with the subject was sent to Washington, to which we have 

 had no reply. "^ 



The Canadian claims^ in the Arctic deserve special attention. They 

 were definitely and officially stated by Mr. Stewart, on June 10, 

 1925, in speaking before the Canadian House of Commons and are 

 outlined on a map he laid on the table of the House. They include 

 everything, known and unknown, west of the Davis Strait-Baffin 

 Bay-Smith Sound-Robeson Channel-6oth meridian (W.) axis, east 



6 p. 4238 of reference cited in next footnote. 



8 House of Commons Debates: Official Report, Unrevised Edition, Vol. 60, No. 84, June 10, 1925. 

 Ottawa, pp. 4253 and 4238. These claims were foreshadowed almost in their present terms in the 

 Canadian Senate in 1907. 



