In addition to stores I hope you will be landing some fresh transport animals.  Oates has drawn a plan for extending the stable accommodation, which will be left with Simpson.  The carpenter should be landed for this work and for the few small alterations in the hut accommodation which may be necessary.

The Discovery Hut at Cape Armitage has now been put into fairly good 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 view of the Strait, the main object being to make it a station from which the phenomena of blizzards, etc., can be observed.  Simpson, who was with me in the West, will give you some idea of our impressions.

You will understand that neither of the above objects are of vital importance.

On the proper date you will return to Evans Coves to pick up the Geological Party.

I must assume that Campbell has been landed in the region of Robertson Bay in a place that is fairly accessible at this season.  If this is so I think it is desirable that you should visit his station after leaving Evans Coves to communicate fresh instructions to him.

Campbell was directed to be prepared to embark on February 25, and it is probable that he will have returned a few days before that date.

In view of the return of the ship in 1912-13 I propose to give Campbell’s Party the choice of remaining another winter in their station under certain conditions or of returning to New Zealand.  Should they decide to stay, the necessary stores for them can now be landed.  Should they decide to return, inform Priestley that he is at liberty to remain at Cape Evans for a second winter if he wishes to do so.