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Antarctica's historic treasures, the century-old huts of British explorers Robert Scott and Ernest Shackleton, are under threat because Britain is refusing to help fund their preservation, say Sir Edmund Hillary and Helen Clark.
The Prime Minister has twice approached British PM Tony Blair over the remaining $9 million needed for crucial work on saving the huts from Antarctica's fierce weather.
The $7 million cost of work so far has been borne by the New Zealand Government and the Antarctic Heritage Trust, which seeks donations from private and corporate philanthropists such as the Getty Foundation in the United States.
Paul East, QC, chairman of the trust - a fundraising agency created by the NZ Government - said the Scott hut's condition was critical.
"We need to raise money as quickly as we can to get on with the job, because if we don't, in a few years' time this building might not be here," said the former Cabinet minister and high commissioner to London.
Losing the huts "would be a terrible indictment - but not on New Zealand", Mr East said.
Sir Edmund said the British PM had "completely ignored" all pleas.
"For me it is disappointing," he said yesterday as he sat inside the evocative 1908 wooden hut built by Shackleton, his hero. "I've always enjoyed the British heroes I read about when I was young but to find now that these relics of a heroic age are barely supported by Britain is just a little bit disappointing.
"Coming down here made me realise just what amazing buildings they were. They have a whole history of endeavour, and it seemed to me there should have been great pride for the British Government and people.
"I sent a message around the important people in the UK suggesting these huts ... really were memorials to some great British explorers and that the British as a consequence should take a little bit more interest in them."
The Antarctic Heritage Trust, which is partly funded by New Zealand, has spent the past three years restoring the Shackleton hut (listed by the World Monuments Fund as one of the world's 100 most endangered heritage sites) but urgent work must now begin on Scott's 1910 hut at nearby Cape Evans.
Helen Clark said she hoped that with the support of some junior British ministers Mr Blair could be persuaded to help in time for the hut's centenary in 2010.
New Zealand was doing what it could "but I think in the end eyes are going to look to Britain, because the heroic age of exploration around this area was the British age of Antarctica", she said.
"As we come up to the centenary of [Scott's 1910] Terra Nova Expedition I'd be very surprised if there wasn't substantial pressure in Britain for them to contribute."
Helen Clark said she got a "glimmer of hope" at her last meeting with Mr Blair, in November.
But Britain, with its once-vast empire, had heritage sites around the world and was probably wary of further commitments if it conceded on this one.
* This morning Jan Cameron, founder of the Kathmandu clothing empire, will join Helen Clark and Sir Edmund to launch a $1 million prize for emerging leaders, to be awarded every four years. Ms Cameron has given $2 million to begin the fund, to be known as the Hillary Institute.
