THE MEN AT MACQUARRIE ISLAND.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10036, 9 July 1910, Page 4

THE MEN AT MACQUARRIE ISLAND.

The agitation which has sprung up in connection with the alleged unhappy plight of the sealing gang at Macquarrie Island, calls to mind the tragedy which followed upon the sending of a relief steamer to the same island for the purpose off the'men employed in oil-getting, Letters appeared in the Southern papers, calling attention to the fact that the men on the Macquarries would starve and die if aid were not sent. The agitation went on until public feeling was roused, and the steamer Kakanui was chartered and sent on what was believed to be an errand of mercy. The Kakanui and all on board went down, and not a vestige of them or the steamer was ever discovered. Old sailor men gave it as their opinion that the little steamer was caught in a heavy gait;, and that she was pooped by a following sea. and foundered. Suffice ' it that a number of widows and matjy orphans were made. It came out afterwards that there waß really no pressing need t for the sending of the relief steamer. In the present instance, the sailing vessel belonging to the firm whose gang of men is concerned, will shortly sail for the Macquarries, where it is hoped she will arrive all well, and retirn safely.