North Pole by Plane

The latest chapter in polar exploration may be written when Ronald Amundsen, the Norse explorer, hops off from Wainwright, on the north coast of Alaska, June 20 or shortly after for an airplane flight across the North Pole to Spitzbergen. In order to notify watchers and emergency rescue parties in Spitzbergen the news of his departure will be flashed thither by radio from Noorvik, on the west coast, the nearest transmitting station to Wainwright. Word will be carried over the intervening 400 miles by a chain of giant bonfires every fifteen miles, each tended by a team of Eskimos who will light the fire when they see the preceding beacon, and run on between stations to make sure the signal is not missed. In no other way could the news be transmitted in so short a time, the journey ordinarily taking several weeks. Business men of Nome are backing the explorer and are raising $5,000, besides providing volunteer assistance.

William Henry Hudson, famous British author and naturalist, who died last year, left the bulk of his estate of about $40,000 to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, to be used for the preparation and distribution of popular educational pamphlets on birds and their protection among English school children.