LECTURE AT THE HUTT.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4609, 29 December 1875, Page 2

LECTURE AT THE HUTT.

Commander Hewitt delivered. a most. interesting lecture . yesterday evening, in the Masonic Hall, Hutt, on " The Arctic Expeditions and Polar Regions." There were aboxit fifty present. A special train ran from Wellington, in order to give persons resident in Wellington an opportunity of hearing the lecture. The lecturer commenced by referring to the prestige of the English navy, and continued to say that our seamen felt that they wanted some new fields to conquer; and these explorations offered such an opening to them. He then dilated on the importance of the expedition on scientific grounds, showing that it was expected to contribute largely to scientific knowledge, and to enable mathematicians to make new and valuable discoveries. Sir Edward Parry (who was four years in Australia) reached the highest latitude known to civilised men, namely, 82'45; or, in other words, a distance of 435 miles from the Pole. He then alluded to Franklin, and in speaking of these great men said that much of their power of endurance and energy was owing to their hardy training and manner of spending their life, and be thought England had chosen places for colonisation wisely, selecting temperate climes in both Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Next he related a number of interesting anecdotes connected with early discoveries by the Esquimaux, and the early colonisation of p Greenland. He then referred his audience to the expedition under Hugh Willoughby in 1553, with three ships, who, after beating about for some time, bore up for aharbor in Lapland, and here his ships became blocked in the ice, and he and his crew were starved to death. The ships with the bodies were discovered by Russian fishermen. He next referred to the Dutch expedition, the members of which spent a "winter in the arctic regions between 1596 and 1597- They built a hut, in which they lived during the winter. The hut was afterwards discovered, with everything in it as left by the unfortunates .who perished there. He then went on to speak of Davies, Hudson, Eoss, and ' Ivnight, and referred to the American expeditions, as showing what Naire's expedition would have to contend with. He then proceeded to give a description of the manner in which the latter expedition is fitted out, and a most interesting account it proved. Then followed the illustrations, by Mr. Beetham, which highly delighted the audience. The lecture was in every respect interesting and most instructive, and wa3 regarded with the closest attention, the lecturer receiving loud applause, at its conclusion.