MAROONED ON MACQUARRIES

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 94, 29 July 1910, Page 5

MAROONED ON MACQUARRIES

TAKEN OFF BY THE HINEMOA. I _ I A GLOOMY TALE. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Irovercarj I, Last Nignt. The men brought I ok by uie Hinemoa to-day from the Macquarie Island tell a rather gloomy tale of their nine months' stay on the island. They lived mostly on sea elephants' tongues and hearts and on a native plant known to them as Maori cabbage, which, after much/ boiling, is edible. There are but a few rabbits on the island, and the monotony of the diet seems to have been one of the principal trials. The men's clothes wore out, and they clothed themselves in blankets and skins. When the Hinemoa arrived at tlie island, Captain Bollins told the men he was there to take them off, if they wanted to go. They all did, and they, weire taken aboard. They express thank-J fulness to Mr. Belcher and all who 'have advocated their case. Mr. Hatch, in a characteristic speech to a reporter, says that he thinks the, Government , have made "a darned mess" of the whole business, and tihat he intends to make his explanation to the public from the platform. A great many of the things said in the news* papers he characterised as "the darnedst lies." He described the conditions on the. island, with the object of showing that they were not as severe as was popularly supposed. All the men, he said, 'were well, except Otto Buer, the head man, who had been there longer than the others. He had apparently been fretting, and looked a bit pale. Hatch stated that the Jessie Niccoll would probably sail again in about a month, and he did not anticipate any difficulty in getting men. He had now at the island about 000 casks of oil ready; for shipment.