Russia and Germany claim most things that Britain does not,
and they have now a dispute on hand as to the owner- ship of the North Pole. Herr Theodor Lerner, a German, has established a commercial settlement on Bear Island, near Spitzbergen, and the Russians imagined that he had been sent by the Emperor to annex. A cruiser accordingly visited the island, and her Captain remarked significantly to Herr Lerner, that if the island belonged to anybody, it was to the Czar. Russia had, it was true, so far waived her rights as to agree to neutralise the Polar regions, but if any one broke that agreement she would reclaim possession. Herr Lerner, though he protested, was not shelled, and, indeed, the settler and the sailor gave each other luncheons, which were not, let us hope, much spoiled by train oil, but the incident shows how closely the world is now watched. On the Russian principle the Antarctic Continent, which is a good big bit of the world, though entirely useless, belongs to ns, ours being the nearest large mass of territory. We say entirely useless, for Professor Dewar has discovered a substitute for ice as a refrigerating agent, and there is no evidence yet of any deposit of sulphur. Ores are of no value in such a region of the earth, and even diamonds, supposing their existence possible, would not pay for the digging.
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