stefansson-wrangel-09-31-092v

144 THE ADVENTURE OF WRANGEL ISLAND

British Empire, they had not come to a conclusion as to
whether it was, therefore, legally a part of Canada, nor
were they sure that incorporating it into Canada would
necessarily be advisable even on the assumption that it
was valuable and ought to be retained by the Empire
through continued occupation. It seemed to the Cabinet
that the question was really an Imperial one and should
be settled by London. They wanted to ask me, therefore,
whether I was willing to go to England and present the
same case in the same way to the British Government. I
said I would be glad to do so if the Canadian Govern-
ment would guarantee me a prompt hearing in London
and would ask that the British Government would render
a decision as quickly as possible. On that understanding
I sailed from Quebec May 15th on the Empress of Scot-
land, arriving in England a week later.

My instructions were to report to the Minister for the
Colonies, the Duke of Devonshire. The Colonial Office
did not disappoint me in the promptness with which it
enabled me to state my case to the departments most con-
cerned. I had been in my hotel room only an hour when
I received a message from the Duke of Devonshire set-
ting the time for an interview with himself and for meet-
ings with several individuals, and with a committee of
the Admiralty under the chairmanship of the Hydrog-
rapher, Rear Admiral F. C. Learmonth. Arrangements
were later made for meetings with a large committee con-
sisting of members of the Colonial Office, the Foreign
Office, the Admiralty, and the Air Ministry under the
chairmanship of Sir Cecil Hurst.

Everyone in the Government was kind and at first
everything seemed to be progressing rapidly and
smoothly. On the whole I have never had a pleasanter