harold-noice-01-02-15-003

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in order to catch the S. S. Victoria scheduled to leave
Seattle on July 5th. It was then June 21st. On June24th I
finally got word to come to Toronto for a conference and then
proceed west. At our conference in Toronto Mr. Taylor asked
me what arrangements I had made with Stefansson concerning pay for
my services and I told Mr. Taylor the question of money had never
been discussed but that inasmuch as the company was at that time
hard pressed for money I would donate my services gratis, espec-
ially as my chief interest was to save lives, if possible, and
not the colonization of an island for England, but I agreed,
however, to do everything in my power to further the interest of
the company provided it did not interfere with relief work. I told
Mr. Taylor I expected to earn money by writing a series of articles
on my trip and asked him to try to secure a contract for me, and
that I would reimburse him for any money expended on telegrams or
office work when I returned. Mr. Taylor was delighted with
this arrangement and assured me he would endeavor to secure the
most advantageous contract possible.

In regard to the expedition plans I agreed to
endeavor to secure colonists for Wrangel Island and make the
best possible contract with them for the division of their furs,
but in the event of the company not being able to finance the
expedition by the beginning of the navigation season we agreed
to broadcast an appeal for help through the papers of the
United States and Canada on a purely relief basis for then the