THE MACGUARIE ISLAND STORY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 888, 6 August 1910, Page 5

THE MACGUARIE ISLAND STORY.

MEN'S VERSIONS.' (By Telegraph.—Press Acsociation.), Invercarglll, August 5. • In connection with Mr. Hatch's settltrcg up. with-' the , Macquarie Island ■ men, the latter have something to say in contradiction of the statements inaae ■by Mx.- Hatch. ; .. ' ■ , The men again, express gratitude to . Mr. Belcher and all who havo advo- . catod their.cause, - It is, stated-that a clear receipt-was given for .the sums mentioned .by Mr. Hatch, but tho men are dissatisfied with the method of payment, their complaint-being that an attempt was made to hustle' each man •into signing for a . sum which was tho result of an imperfectly understood statement of credit and debit. Ttay declare, that the £2 12s. 7d., which Mr. Hatch took the credit: of .paying as extra'allowance (because eight men bad been called upon to do the work of ten) was demanded,.-and was granted only " after'a long and bitter discussion. The men also emphatically resent the; misleading impression iJven. Mr. Hatch's statement "that they liw supplied with-all .the money they, required ; ~.immediately- on : their an;ival at '.the -Bluff, and that their wants in-the way of : : bb'6tsv';.and clothing -were also, satis-, fied'as soon as they came ashore at .the: Bluff. They .state that., the is that four of the men obtained new " boot's.at prices ranging from. 15s. 64. to 18s. per pair, ; and that six of them 'obtained 10s. each in cash on the after-; noon of the day on which they arrived. No further, payment or- advance of any kind .was made until the following day.

The < men further declare that •' the measurement of the oil on which the payments were based was different from .what they had been led to expect, .ana that this resulted in ,a loss to them of a certain allowance per man on 79 casks of oil. Two men, they say, who were paid off in October, were paid at the rate of six barrels to the tun. of oil, whereas the party just' returned haVt beet paid on measurement by weight, wi& the result abovo indicated. A request for a. partial.' allowanoe for board from the Thursday of their arrival at the Bluff until Wednesday afternoon—the. time of' the final ment—was rejected.. .Then men adhere to the statement already made by them with regard to the conditions in which they W6re' called upon to work and live .on the island. . As against this Mr. Hatch writes to tho "Southland Times" that there was no hustling, except from the men. "Finally, Mr. Hatch states that all documents in connection with the settlement are at the disposal of a disinterested tribunal by.whose decision he is prepared to stand or fall.