THE NEWS IN CHRISTCHURCH

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVIII, Issue XLVIII, 11 February 1913, Page 5

THE NEWS IN CHRISTCHURCH

A. painful sensation. NAMES OF THE VICTIMS. DETAILS ANXIOUSLY AWAITED. CHBISTCHURCH. This Day. A very painful sensation was causet here when the London message cam* through concerning the loss of the South ern party. The party consisted of : Captain Scott. Dr. Wilson. .Captain Oates. Petty-Officer Evans, and Lieutenant- Bowers. An application was immediately itiad< to-Mr.-J. J. KAns-ey. the New Zealant agent for the Expedition, for confirmation of the London iressage. Mr. Kmhowever, was unable to add any

d-et-aii* to tie message received from London. He snirl <L was a repetition of the o+ie fin T.tad him-x-il' s.-nt. He added t&ai '«, further message should shortly ue in the hands of the New Zealand nev. s::.. r -crj ,- but all information nl this stasia would have t.<> <-»>r>rr through London.

It is that Mrs Wilson has bse» sMVVe time in New Zealand waiting hev husband's return. Mrs Scott is now on her way from San Francisco.

The early return of the Terra Nova yesterday caused much speculation, as it was known that Captain Scy.ttV plans involved full utilisation 'of . the summer months in Ant.7rcr.ic*>-. and the Terra Nova, consequently V,a"s expected late in March. j, very general suggestion that Uie early return was due to soirp; disaster.

Lieutenant Pennell is staving with Mr K:nscy, he being anxious "to remain in seclusion.

Mr. Kinsey spent an ardous. sleepless night. When seen this morning he had a. pile of cablegrams on his desk. He :s unable to see people who are anxious ior details of the disaster. Not even the barest hint of the disaster was allowed to leak, out vesterdav, and the news this morning came as'a dreadful shock to the hosts of friends made by the members of the expedition in ChristViuirch. Indeed, the earliest rurn«*i"rs were received with flat init being assumed that if such a great calamity had befallen the expedition, those concerned would surely have mentioned it when the vessel called at Oamaru. That srerecy was so jealously maintained was. in the circumstances.* incredible.

The persistence of the rumours carnal conviction, and the fact that the "Star" office flag was half-masted showed the people arriving in town at 9 a.m. that sad news of some sort had been received. The Cathedral bell tolled shortly afterwards, and the tragedy soon took on the appearance of a national disaster so far as" this city was concerned. As Mr Kinsey and Lieut. Pennell were unable to see Visitors, the newspaper offices had to answer queries, and the public refused to believe that no information was obtainable locally. Mr Kinsey states that a full report of the expedition would probably be sent to the New Zealand papers to-night, and meantime only such brief messages as are sent from' London will be available. NO HINT OF A CALAMITY. OAMARU, This Day. Captain Ramsay, Harbourmaster, who was interviewed yesterday by Lieutenant Pennell and Dr. Atkinson, expressed suriprise when he heard the news of the fate of Captain Scott's party. Captain Ramsay states that the clHcers said nothing as to the success or otherwise of the expedition, or to lead anyone to believe that so dreadful a calamity had happened. They intimated that in pursuance of their mission ashore they were bound to secrecy and this, being the case the harbourmastsr made no effort to secure information. Flags are half-rrastcd. as a token of respect to the gallant officer and his men. IMPRESSIONS OF THE LOST LEADER. / "A SPLENDID FELLOW." GREYMOUTH, This Day. Captain Hender, of the U.S.S. Co.'s Kowhai, now in port, met Capt. Scott on two occasions, the first eleven years ago, when Captain Hender was one of the ship's company of the relief ship ! Morning, which took the stores and other necessaries to the Discovery, meeting that vessel in latitude 79 South, at the base of Mounts Terror and Erebus. The Morning brought back to New Zealand Lieut, (now fair Ernest) Shackleton, who was invalided home, and nine others of the Discovery's crew. The next time Captain Hender met Captain Scott in Lyttelton, on his return to New Zealand about a year later. Captain Scott was not a man to talk much to anyone," said Captain Hender to a "Star" representative. "He nevertheless was a splendid fellow, extremely popular, and greatly liked by everyone on board his ship—just the man for he had undertaken." i Mr Hatfield, the second mate of the Kowhai, who was one of the Morning's company on the second relief expedition, also had the opportunity of noticing how Captain Scott was esteemed, admired and loved by every man connected with the expedition. THE NEWS IN NELSON. The news of the disaster to the Scott Expedition was received by this office at about 8.30 this morning, and an extraordinary" was at once published and distributed throughout the city. the information caused a painful shock to the community, and many expressions of Tegret were passed at the tragic event. Flags from many of the business premises in town are flying half-mast high as a mark of respect to the victims. A STEWARD'S TRIBUTE. "He would die hard," were the first words of a steward on the steamer Pateena, when handed an ' Evening Mail" extra containing the news oi .me Scott disaster. "I sailed with him on the warship Essex. He was a splendid man and would be the-last one to give in. A man of great foresight he would make preparations down to the nearest letail weeks in advance. He never left arrangements to his subordinates, but oersonally supervised them It must have been an extraordinary blizzard that Captain Scott perished in, otherwise he would have got out of it somehow, ' said •he steward with deep conviction. the ■teward appeared deeply grieved at the ?ad news, and.asked whether there could je any mistake about the cablegram. ARRIVAL UNEXPECTED. NOT DUE TILtTnEXT MONTH. CHRISTCHURCH. Feb. 10. The Tevra Nova returned, to Lyttelton earlier than was expected. It was given ■mt that she would return to New Zealand some, time in March, and, indeed. Mrs Scott, wife of the leader of the exoedition. who left San Francisco a lew days apo on her way out to meet her husband, confirmed this statement. It may be. of course, that the Terra Nova on arrival at the base found the whole party waiting, and everything in readiness for an immediate return. The Terra Nova will probably be a day or two in New Zealand ; before any news is tjciven out to enable the official story ■if th<- expedition to he cabled Home for irst publication in London. The firstnews, therefore, will be cabled, back Lo- New Zealand from London. The Terra Nova sailed from Lyttelton inlv a few weeks ago (on- December L4th) for th c Antarctic, whence she had returned on April 4th of last year. The last news brought from 'Captain Scott was that he was w?ll on his way to the Pole. and. had every chance of reaching it. Members of the'expedition said that thev were satisfied he would do it. When the return partv left him on January 3rd Captain Scott still had five men, and large supplies of food, quite sufficient to take him to the Pole and back again to the depots. If he covered ou'v eight miles a day he would do : t easily, but as a matter of fact lie was doing 15 miles a- day.

When, however, Captain Amundsen, the Norwegian explorer, returned with victory won, interest i'>. Captain Scott's chances " f reaching the Pole somewhat declined, for it seemed plain that the Norwegian had been first. Captain Scott's ■expedition aimed at achieving a vast amount of useful scientific and exploration work, apart altogether from reaching the South Pole. No other expedition had ever so many scientific investigators in its rank's. and th*> results achieved, sn <• expected Id he of the. %ery I highest vaiue'. Mr. J. J. Kinf-ey. agent for the expedition in New Zealand, when seen today stated that he had heard nothing concerning tlv arrival of the Terra Nova beyond the news that the papers had received. "You know as much ai> 1 do."' added Mr. Kinsey. "THOSE ARE MY ORDERS." TImARU, Feb. 10. On the first north bound, express a "Post" repovleV sought out two youngmen whose tanned faces suggested outdoor life. They looked like ordinary travellers, except that they wore seaboots. The reporter questioned them, but one replied : "Our orders are to say nothing. We don't mind you asking." he said, "but those are my orders." He then added that he would answer only one question. Asked when New Zealand would get news of Captain Scott's expedition,, he replied, "Twenty-four horn's after it has been sent to London, as has i>een the practice in the past." They refused definitely to answer any question as to :he health of the expedition LONDON TO GET FIRST NEWS. WELLINGTON-, Feb. 10. From the only information procurable to-day it does not appear that any news of Captain Scott's expedition will be available to-night; Th e first persons to be served are the purchasers of the copyright in England, and New Zealand and Australian papers will have to wait until they get the news :n England secure from any chance oi anticipation. TER.RA NOVA MEN IN CHRISTCHURCH. CHRISTCHURCH. Feb. 10. The Terra Nova men Who arrived from Oamaru to-niirht are Lieutenant Pennell and Dr. Atkinson. They state that nothing can be divulged re "the expedition until the cable message to the Central News Agency has been given 24 hours' start. The ship is now on her way up from Oamaru to Lyttelton. and should arrive late to-morrow night, or early on the following morning. TERRA NOVA AT LYTTELTOX TO-MORROW. CHRISTCHURCH, This Day. The Terra Nova is due at Lyttelton to-morrow forenoon.