stefansson-wrangel-09-12-119-005

-5- amounts to about £1,500. It is of course my intention to repay this to Mr. [[Brewer, Griffith, 1867-1948|Brewer]] eventually, if neither the British nor Canadian Government does. However, that is not a "bankable proposition" since I have no money now and am already heavily in debt. This takes the story down to a point where you know perhaps more about it than I do. The Soviet threats are certainly not to be take seriously from the legal point of view. However, if it takes our Government too long to make up its mind, the Soviet may take actual possession - a thing they would certainly not do if our enterprise had the backing of the Government now. That action of the Soviets would not change the strictly legal aspect of the case but it would put a deal of tension into the situation and make it undeniably serious. I sent, either through the [[Toronto (Ont.)|Toronto]] or the [[New York (State)|New York]] office, all my cables to [[Noice, Harold|Noice]] and since his to me came through the two offices I have no doubt that you are in possession of the full correspondence. I told him in sub- stance that the Soviet threats were ridiculous since they had nothing legal to stand on. I advised him, however, to shape the course of the Donaldson north along the [[Alaska|Alaska coast]] to [[Point Hope (Alaska)|Point Hope]] and then direct for [[Wrangel Island (Russia)|Wrangell Island]] so as to avoid contact with Russian territory or with Russian ships in territorial waters. I told him it is our plan to continue the work in the island and that either he or someone else should remain in charge next winter, but that if no-one can remain the houses and other things are to be left in the best possible condition for re-occupation next spring, there being no thought of dis- continuance of our work. The [[Wrangel Island (Russia)|Wrangell Island]] enterprise has been in a curious dilemma this summer. In [[Ottawa (Ont.)|Ottawa]] I was told in substance that if the British Government were only willing, the Canadians would probably also be favourable. Over here I was told that while the probability of the future value of [[Wrangel Island (Russia)|Wrangell Island]] seemed reasonable and while the occupation of the island should therefore be of future advantage to the Empire, the British Government could not very well act because of the lukewarmness of the Canadian authorities, whom they did not want to offend nor commit to any policy. The logical thing was then postponement for the Imperial Conference, but we are prevented from getting the public support which would be so easily forthcoming if it were not for the suspicion in the public mind that there must be something wrong since neither government wants to act. Those who are familiar with the growth of the Empire know