LIFE ON MACQUARIE ISLAND.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10048, 23 July 1910, Page 3

LIFE ON MACQUARIE ISLAND.

With regard to tho anxiety felt for the safety of a number of men whu, several months ago, to Mac quarie Island, satisfaction is expres sed that the Hinemoa, which left' the BlufE yesterday, will call at the Island.

"No, it is not a picnic, I can assure you," said Mr C. T. A. Luxon, when questioned as to his experiences on Macquarie Island by a reporter, "and/" he added, "I don't want the outing again." Mr Luxon was a member of the party that went to the lonely island in November, 1908, and returned in April, 1909, for the penguin oil season. Ten men went out under contract in the boat Jessie Niccol, and according to the statement made by Mr Luxon, their life, was not a rosy one while they were away. The penguins are caught in two seasons of about twenty-one days each with a "spell" between, and the men who went in 1908 were under the impression that they would make cheques of about £45 each, aB the proprietor of the expadition reckoned that they would eet 150 tons of oil during the season, When they were ready to go home they had fifty two tons, and the average cheque was somewhere about £ls. The party killed about 3,600 birds a day, and Mr Luxon said that there was no diminution in their numbers, but that they' seemed to increase. FOOD AND WATER SCARCE. Mr Luxon remarked that Captain Bollons, of the Hinemoa, was re- j ported to have said that the men over whom there had been so much discus- ! sion would have plenty of fresh water on the island, and that there was : plenty of animal and vegetable food. There was, said Mr Luxon, no water, except within a six-mile radius of the huts, and then when it rained. Any other water on the island was made filthy by the birds, and would be quite unfit to drink. The men at present would havfi animal food. The only vegetation was a harsh thsck scrub. The men would have practically no food except that which was taken down for their normal requirements. The housing accommodation is described by Mr Luxon as very poor, but there is a main hut with seven bunks and a room opening off the sleeping apartment, in which the men eat. There is also another small hut wiih accommodation for three men. The huta are furnished with a

table, two forms and the bunka in the sleeping portion; tea and a small stove and a range in the living room. Ventilation is conspicuous by its entire absence, and no provision is made for recreation. The fcod consists of flour, condensed milk, oatmeal, sugar, There is coffee, tinned meat, junk (which on th s occasion went bad), rica, sago, and potatoes (which also went ty»d).