NEWS OF THE WEEK.
13Y far the most interesting foreign news of the week is the announcement by Commander Peary, which was tele- g faphed to New York on Monday, that be had reached the North Tole. " Stars and Stripes nailed North Pole," ran the message. The news derived an extraordinary piquancy, of course, from the strange coincidence that it followed so closely on the reported discovery of the North Pole by Dr. Cook. Dr. Cook professes to have reached the Pole on April 21st, 1908, and 'Commander Peary on April 6th, 1909. Meanwhile Dr. Cook has not dispelled the scepticism with which his claim has been received in many parts of the world, although several Danish men of science who examined him have expressed themselves quite satisfied with his good faith, the gold medal of the Danish Geographical Society has been awarded to him, the Danish Court have publicly attended his lecture, and be has been given an honorary degree by the University. 'In his lecture Dr. Cook added nothing to the rather rhetorical -assertions he made in his original despatch to the New York Herald. The Danish men of science were, in fact, impressed by his personality and his readiness in answering their questions, and not by his documentary evidence of observations and so 'forth, which they admittedly have not seen. On Wednesday a great sensation was caused by the arrival of a telegram from Commander. Peary to the Associated Press, in which he said :—" Cook's story should not be taken too seriously. The two Eskimos who accompanied him say that he went no distance north, and not out of sight of land." We discuss elsewhere the astonishing controversy which was brought to a head by this telegram.
