248 POLAR PROBLEMS 



the Falkland Islands Dependencies (20° W. to 80° W. ; Letters Patent 

 of July 21, 1908, and March 28, 1917), and to the Ross Dependency 

 of New Zealand (160° E. to 150° W. ; Order in Council of July 30, 



1923)- 



It may be assumed that each "Land," while not capable of precise 

 delimitation and perhaps referring primarily to the coast, is intended 

 to include the sector to the south as far as the pole, the hinterland or 

 "hinter-ice," so to speak. Taken all together, with the Ross De- 

 pendency and the Falkland Islands Dependencies, they would include 

 nearly all of the Antarctic Continent. 



French Claims 



The seeming exception is the region known as Adelie Land in the 

 neighborhood of 140° E., 66° S., which the French claim by reason 

 of the discoveries of D'Urville in 1840. No precise statement of the 

 limits of this region has been made. Publication of the claim was made 

 in the Journal Officiel of March 29, 1924; but it seems to have been 

 notified to the British and perhaps to other Governments as early 

 as 1912, when the region was spoken of as "that portion of Wilkes 

 Land known as Adelie Land." Terminology here may cause some 

 confusion ; in the report of the United States Geographic Board, Wilkes 

 Land is described as the region between 155° E. and 96° E. ; the British 

 list above speaks of Wilkes Land as the area west of Adelie Land ; while 

 the French decree of 1924 says "Adelie or Wilkes Land." 



Later French decrees (November 21 and December 30, 1924) 

 indicate increasing interest of the French Government in the whale 

 and other fisheries. Kerguelen Island and the Crozet group, as well 

 as Saint Paul and Amsterdam Islands, lonely and remote points 

 in that vast stretch of ocean between South Africa and Australia, are 

 placed under the Fisheries Regulations with special provisions made 

 for conservation of animal life; and all of them, with Adelie Land, 

 are attached to the Government of Madagascar. The phraseology of 

 the British White Paper indicates that the French claim to Adelie 

 Land is not contested by London, although it seems that Australian 

 sentiment would be quite reluctant to admit it. However, as yet 

 there has been no express international recognition of the French and 

 British claims. 



No Other Claims 



No other claim to sovereignty in the Antarctic has been made 

 public, though there are various other countries that might conceiv- 

 ably rest on the exploration of their nationals. However, any German 

 rights were renounced in the general language of Article 118 of the 

 Treaty of Versailles; and there are similar clauses in the Treaties of 

 Peace with Austria and with Hungary. 



