ANOTHER STATEMENT BY CAPTAIN EVANS

Evening Post, Volume LXXXV, Issue 38, 14 February 1913, Page 3

ANOTHER STATEMENT BY CAPTAIN EVANS

HOW HIS LIFE WAS SAVED • CAUSE OF DEATH OF THE SCOTT PARTY. (BT fEtEGRAPH— SfECIATi TO THE POST.) CHEISTCHURCH, This Day. Most of the members of the expedition have been busy attending to -details which cannot be left over to take "care of themselves. ' Commander Evans, of course, has been exceptionally busy, but at his hotel, after lunch yesterday, he made a statement to a reporter. He is very reticent by nature, and on that account is a decidedly difficult man to interview. . This is' specially marked when the subject of the interview deals with the work in which he has taken an active part. The practical difficulty arises from the fact that .he constantly turns the conversation from himself to others— a practice in which he displays much adroitness. When he was seen yesterday afternoon he had in his hand his diary of the pioneer journey to the south in preparation for the southern party's journey to the Pole. He was looking vp 'some dates in the diary, and the document brought his journey and his illness into the conversation. His remarks ran at once on, the splendid services of his two comrades, Chief Stoker Lashley and Petty-Officer Crean, who saved his life. TRIBUTE TO BRAVE MEN. "I am a sailor, not a literary man," he said, "and I am not used to manufacturing copy. As a matter of fact, I dislike being interviewed, perhaps more than 1 dislike anything else in the world, but there certainly are a few remarks I should like to publish. They deal with Lashley's and Groan's remarkable bravery on this piuneer journey to the south. A few minutes ago I watched one of them working on the deck of the Terra Nova, and my mind went back to the services they rendered me in the Antarctic. The public have heard a good deal about us through the newspapers, but they have heard little of those two men's gallant action when I was attacked by scurvy. My feeling is that no tribute to them could be too great! Well; there they were to-day, quietly going on with their work on board the vessel as if they had never done anything out of the commonplace in the whole course of their lives. They would do it again in the same cheeiful spirit if the occasion arose and with the same lack of thought for themselves. Members of the expedition do not wish to praise one another, but I cannot let the return of these two men to civilisation pass unnoticed. By the Way, here is the last intelligible entry in my sledging diary. It was made when We were half-way down the Beardmore Glacier on the return journey, and the date is 17th January, 1912. After that there are a few scraps of notes for four days, showing where I attempted to write in my feeble condition. From that date to 23rd February Las»hley and Crean carried me on the journey until it was brought to an end, It was a fine piece of york and it was done in a noble spirit." j COMMANDER DISOBEYED. I The commander was attacked by scurvy early on the return journey, but ho tried to hide the fact from his companions'. As the disease got a firmer grasp of him he found that it was impossible to hids the symptoms. He then told them that it was his wish that they should leavo hixii in a terit \thicih had been erected and, y\ah on without him. They declined to consider

the proposal. He then commanded them to do so. They replied respectfully that for the first time they would disobey a command. He could 'do nothing in the face of their determination, and the journey was continued. The commander tried to walk, but found that his weakness overcame him, and the two men then placed him on the sledge and carried him into the camp, which, without their help, he nevel 1 would have reached. NO, SCURVY IN SCOTT PARTY EMPHATIC STATEiUENTS. Many conjectures have been made as to whether members of the southern party suffered from scurvy. This theory has been strongly supported by the long interview with Professor David, of Sydney, published yesterday. Those who know best, however, state that there was no sign of scurvy. Dr. Atkinson, leader of the search party, is emphatic in this respect, and Commander Evans* expressed the same opinion when he was consulted yesterday afternoon. '