THE PROVISION DEPOT AT THE ANTIPODES.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 212, 1 June 1908, Page 6

THE PROVISION DEPOT AT THE ANTIPODES.

; VISIT OF THE HINEMOA. ' [BY XELEGEAPH.—FEESS ASSOCIATION.] ■ ;. : ' Bluff, May 31. The Hinemoa returned-' from the' • Antipodes this morning , after replenishing the provision depot there. The stores had been used by .the : crow of the steel, barque President' Felix Fauns, which! was .' wrecked there' on March -13, and whose crew were rosoued by the Pegasus., Mr. Ales'; Lowrio, journalist, who" accompanied the Hinemoa; when interviewed,, saia ; " The statements made by tho Captain of tho President Ffilix Fa'tiro aro very much : exaggerated. TheCaptairi reported that.quantities. of the ships' stores were left on the Inland, 'but no trace of those were, seen by the Hinemoa . party. The statement that the clothing in the depot wast: scanty arid what there 1 was evidently worn by someone, is not borne out by facts, as at least three . suits of depot clothing were, found .which had never' been worn. Tlie, statement that the ship's" boat was sniashed, to a thousand piece's when tho crow landed on tho beach is another exaggeration. Tlie boat had been 'knocked to pieces by the crew to construct the framework of two shelters arid erect bunks in the provisiori depot: The stores' had been removed from tlie provision depot to allow of it being used for a living room, and the stores not . consumed had not been roplaced, b'iit were found in one of the badly constructed temporary sholters. : Fish seem td ftSvo been caught in abiiridarice, as quite' a ntiiriber were found hanging up. The cfibltiiig iitorisils were left in a filthy condltWEj as also were the blankets. Tho Fr6ncMcrfhad apparently lived under niost' insanitary conditibns. Thero was no trace of the! wrecked vessel, but the few pieces of wreckage washed upon the beach would indicate that she had gbno ashoro within ISO yards of tho dopot." ,