GIFTS FOR N Z. PARTY

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28161, 27 December 1956, Page 2

GIFTS FOR N Z. PARTY

“Mystery” Parcel Opened When Sir Edmund Hillary left Lyttelton in H.M.N.Z.S. Endeavour he took with him a mysterious parcel addressed, “Sir Edmund Hillary, Antarctic expedition. Not to be opened until Christmas Day.” No-one knew whence or from whom the parcel had come. The mystery was solved on Christmas Day, when Sir Edmund Hillary opened the parcel and found inside for each of the men a morocco leather writing satchel, filled with writing materials, and inscribed with his name and the words,* “Presented by the New Zealand Antarctic Society, Christchurch branch, December, 1956.” The men who received the gifts were those who will spend the winter in the Antarctic. The men who went south in United States ships will have to wait to receive their presents. The money used to buy the gifts had been subscribed by Christchurch members of the Antarctic Society, but very few of them knew the use to which it was to be put. This was because some of the expedition members are also members of the society. There was some doubt what the money should be spent on, but when a member of the society who had been in one of Admiral R. E. Byrd’s expeditions suggested something which would be both useful in the Antarctic and suitable for keeping as a permanent memento, writing satchels were chosen.