stefansson-wrangel-09-15-128-001

December 31, 1924.

Dear Taylor:

Here are copies of the French documents that support
the item I marked for you in the January 25th number of the Geographical
Review. Perhaps Mr. Stevens or someone you know in the Government might
be interested. The French claims are very shadowy, resting mainly on
discoveries that are several centuries old. You will remember that the
British Government has proclaimed its rights over the parts of Antarctica
explored by them. Lately, I believe, this territory has been attached to
New Zealand. If you look at a globe, you see how remote those lands are
from any important countries and how inaccessible as compared with such
islands, for instance, as Wrangel. Furthermore, they have no aeronautical
strategic value either in peace or war, for the flying routes between no
great inhabited countries lie anywhere near them. Also these lands are
in reality mainly covered with ice where the Arctic lands (except
Ellesmere, Heibert, Greenland, Spitsbergen, and Franz Josef) have less
permanent ice than British Columbia.

A.J.T. Taylor, Esq.,
Bank of Hamilton Building
Toronto, Ontario.