cheese, butter, tinned foods, bacon, hams and numerous other products
which are grown in New Zealand, and which any expedition leaving that
country should always buy there in preference to carrying them through
the tropics, was a masterstroke of clear-headedness and organization.
These stores were all relisted before stowing and the green-banded or
Northern Party and red-banded or Main Party stores were not only easily
distinguishable, but also stowed in such a way that they were forthcoming
without difficulty at the right time and in their due order.

The two huts which were to form the homes of our two parties down South
had been brought out in the ship and were now erected on a piece of waste
ground near, by the same men who would be given the work to do in the
South.

The gear peculiar to the various kinds of scientific work which it was
the object of the expedition to carry out was also stowed with great
care. The more bulky objects included a petrol engine and small dynamo, a
very delicate instrument for making pendulum observations to test the
gravity of the earth, meteorological screens, and a Dines anemometer.
There was also a special hut for magnetic observations, of which only the
framework was finally taken, with the necessary but bulky magnetic
instruments. The biological and photographic gear was also of
considerable size.

For the interior of the huts there were beds with spring mattresses--a
real luxury but one well worth the space and money,--tables, chairs,
cooking ranges and piping, and a complete acetylene gas plant for both
parties. There were also extensive ventilators which were not a great
success. The problem of ventilation in polar regions still remains to be
solved.