Hardship and Humour by his Second in Command was a very happy thought of the Race Club Stewards, as patrons of the Union Jack Club, to arrange for Capt. E.R. G. R. Evans, c.s., p.s.o., of H. M. S. Carlisle, Capt. R. OF. Beott's second-in-command on the Antarctic expedition, to lecture on that gallant exploit in aid of the funds of the institution.
The interest of the subject and the worthy cause brought a rush for bookings and there was scarcely a vacant seat in the Olympic Theatre op Sunday, whilst the audience included Sir Everard Fraser, E.0M.G., Judge Skinner Turner and most of the leading people of the British community. Further to aid the funds, young ladies sold at anything from $1 upwards cleve er models of penguins made by the handy men of the Carlisle.
Mr, G. H. Stitt, in introducing the lecturer, made the happiest.of mistakes when he got mixed up with Captain Evans's titles and made a guess at V. C. The big company of sailors and marines roared approval of this unofficial award to the heroic commande' of H.M.S. Broke. Captain Evans spoke in a racy style throughout. save when telling of the gallant conduct of Lashly and Crean when they saved his life; of. the death of "the very perfect gentleman," Captain Oates and of the end of Scott himself, when his broken tones moved the audience to sympathetic and appreciative applause-In lighter vein he told the story of James Pig, the pony, whom he showed gratefully eating snow; of the celebration of Scott's birthday by a general bath for the ship's company; of the penguins so stupid that they sit on rounded lumps of ice, thinking them eggs; and how "'we behaved always like the happy people we were," though living on a daily ration of 34 0z.—biscuit, emmican, sugar, cocoa, tea and utter. People who cannot appreciate the value of scientific research will be interested to know that the explorers, while washing for gold, just as a side line, dis covered garnets.
Even without a word said in explanation, it would have been an evening well spent just to see the superb slides, mostly from photographs taken by the official photographer, Mr. G. Ponting. People in the East are well acquainted with Mr, Ponting's Japanese work, but these Antarctic slides, for beauty, excel anything else he has done.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.