LETTERS FROM HOME.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 12970, 25 November 1907, Page 8

LETTERS FROM HOME.

There was considerable jubilation on Hoard when the mail for the officers and crew arrived. It was conveyed to Lyttelton by Mr A. Reid, the manager of tho expedition, and was contained in a well-filled portmanteau and an equally well-filled mail bag. In addition there are numerous parcels for the different members of the ship's company which will be delivered today. Very eagerly tho «nvelopca iiD which they were encasvd were torn open and the contents devoured. Some of the letters had come by a very roundabout route. Some had been addressed to St. Yin-

cent, at -which place it was expected the Nimrod would arrive on Auguat 3OQi; ehe arrived six days earlier, on the 24th, and stayed only abont five hours. The disappointment of all on board can tw> imagined wHen they learned that there was no mail for the ship, that none had arrived during the previous twelve days, and that none was expected for another four days. When the Nimrod mail did arrive, it was sent back to London, and it wae this mail and the letters that have arrived in this city and at lyttelton for the ship's company that Mx Reid conveyed on board, and the distribution and perusal of which caused co much general rejoicing. Curiously enough, the mail also included several letters designed to connect with, the Nimrod at Torquay which were marked "immediate," but which missed the connection. The scene in the foc'sle when the letters were being distributed was particularly interesting. Gathered round the bench on which their meals are taken were the eeameii and firemen, and the joyous expression, that came into their faces as they heard their names called out was pleasant to Gee. One- particular eeaman (let him be called Smith for the purposes of this reixence) had a large number of corresponndents, and he wae subjected to much good-humoured chaff trom hie fellows when "Smith,'.' "iSniith," "Smith" was called out by the distributor, tho othere, impatiently waiting to hear their own names called, wondering when "Smith's" correspondence wouki be finished. Then came the reading of the different epistles, the eager absorption of the news regarding relatives and friends—news that was, in some instances, pleasing to readers, and in others tho reverse. So absorbed were all and sundry in perusing their correspondence, that they were in danger of forgetting that the cook and tho stewards were indulging in unparliamentary language owing to the consumption of tho evening meal being delayed. Soon, however, the salient points in the letters had been grasped, and the "galley slaves" were etfle to get their duties discharged, ajid the ship's company discussed and digested the news from Home and their evening meal at one and the same time. This was tho first mail they bad received since they left Capetown on October sth, and next to their safe arrival at Lyttelton was the most pleasurable experience recorded in their joint and several Jogs of Saturday.