order, and anticipating that returning parties may have to remain there
for some time, as we did last year, I am arranging to transport a
quantity of stores to Hut Point. In case the ponies are unable to finish
this work, I should like you to complete it at some convenient season.
According to circumstances you will probably wait till the ice has broken
well back.

Mails and letters for members of the Southern Party should be taken to
Hut Point and left in clearly marked boxes.

Simpson will inform you of the plan on which the Southern Journey is
being worked. The first returning parties from the South should reach Hut
Point towards the end of January. At as early a date as convenient I
should like you to proceed to the Western side of the Sound

(i) To find a snug berth in which the ship can take shelter during
gales.

(ii) To erect the meteorological hut if you have brought it with you.

From a recent sledge trip to the West I am inclined to think that
excellent shelter could be found for the ship alongside the fast ice in
the Ferrar Glacier Inlet or in New Harbour, and it might be well to make
headquarters in such a place in time of disturbance. But it would be wise
to keep an eye to the possibility of ice pressure across the Sound.

It might be possible to moor the ship under the shelter of Butter Point
by a hawser secured to balks of timber buried deep in the snow; she
should he easy at a long scope. In regards to the hut my idea is to place
it in as sheltered a spot as possible, at or near a spot which commands a