POLITICAL RIGHTS 243 



area were land, it would not be a continent; at the utmost it would 

 be a large island or islands. But, though unexplored, it would be going 

 too far to say that this area is totally unknown ; and inferences regard- 

 ing it, based on known facts, almost forbid the idea that it is all land. 

 The pole and its immediate surroundings are water and not land; 

 and soundings made in that vicinity show that the water is very deep 

 water, suggesting that no very large land area is adjacent. On the 

 other hand, data from observations of the currents, the tides and the 

 ice lead some scientists to think it unlikely that there is no land in 

 this region. It may well be that islands exist there. 



If the methods of exploration previously used were the only ones 

 available, it would perhaps be some generations before such a vast 

 surface could be even approximately charted; but with the airplane 

 or the dirigible (and perhaps the submarine) the possibility is quite 

 otherwise. The question is now more one of expense than anything 

 else. With proper preparation and flight bases, the difficulties involved 

 in obtaining the necessary information — and these difficulties are 

 still great — could be overcome in the course of a few years. 



If the political situation in the unknown Arctic finally results in 

 agreement among the British Empire (Canada), Russia, and the 

 United States, the legal aspects of the problem will become unim- 

 portant. In the meantime, however, they are very interesting and 

 in some of their features novel. 



Legal Aspects of the Problem 



In early days, the discovery of unknown lands was regarded as 

 the primary source of national title. But the impossibility that 

 discovery, without anything more, should constitute a continuing 

 basis of sovereignty soon became obvious, and "effective occupation" 

 or "settlement" became a requisite. In recent years a third element 

 of title has come to be thought of internationally as almost necessary, 

 and that is what Lord Stowell called "notification of the fact," 

 usually by an express communication to other Powers. 



Of course, no formula or statement yet devised has solved or 

 can solve all the difficulties connected with sovereignty over newly 

 discovered lands. If effective occupation or settlement is to be deemed 

 the real test, certainly "settlement" in the Arctic Regions can hardly 

 be regarded as precisely synonymous with settlement elsewhere. 

 Greenland is admittedly Danish, but I do not suppose that any one 

 would say that the whole of Greenland is settled at this time. But 

 clearly (if sufficient money is available) there may be effective occupa- 

 tion of an enormous Arctic area by the establishment of a few posts, 

 here and there, with airplane and radio communications, without 

 there being much "settlement" in the ordinary sense of that word. 



