THE QUEEN'S BIRTH DAY.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XII, Issue 827, 1 June 1855, Page 3

THE QUEEN'S BIRTH DAY.

To the Editor of the Southern Cross. Sir,— The following rich specimen of the florid style of composition is too good to be confined to the journal from which I have extracted it. I therefor* venture Co request that you will kindly give it a place in your columns, with a few comments of my own which I offer in all humility with the benevolent intention of doing my friend of the ' New-Zealandor ' a good turn, by rendeiing more conspicuous the beauties of his own peculiar style : — " Thuisday (he writes) was truly a Holiday. Never, since the foundation of Auckland, has Her Majesty's Birth Day been celebrated with equal " pomp and circumstance of war "as on Thursday. From most of the vessels in port, there floated a gallant array of bunting — one or two merely displayed their ensigns, but there were others who by their many coloured hues more than compensated for the bare poles of a few, and conspicuous amongst ihese, for the splendour of their loyal dressings, we particularise the brigs Moa, Kestrel, and Fuller ton, the schooner Abbey, and 11. M. Surveying brigantine Pandora. " The day was one of surpassing loveliness, earth, air, and water wore their most joyous aspect ; and from an early hour, the pleasure loving public appeared beut on making a day of it." This is reiy fine. How severe is tbft sa ire on the "bare poles" of a few vessels, the owners of which were such disloyal and dull knaves as not to perceive^ the intimate connection between loyalty, " the pomp and circumstance of war, and a " gallant array of bunting." How delightful is the reverse of this sad picture ? 11 But there were other vesssels," the writer in exstaey observes "who " (vessels who ! !) " more than compensated for the bare poles of a few by their many coloured hues." The Captains of these vessels were bricks. The following, the writer observes, were the vessels of many coloured hues :— " The Pandora " (hull painted pea green, with red cross bars, masts highly gilt), " Kestrel" (Bright yellow hull, blue spars, sails painted crimson colour for the occasion), "The schooner Abbey " (God save the Queen painted all round the hull, and illuminated with coloured lamps at night). " The day " continues the writer, " was one of surpassing loveliness. Earth, air, and water wore their most joyous aspect (oh my) and the pleasure loving public appeared bent upon making a day of it." (Very vulgar writing after the touch of the sublime, with respect to earth, air, and water. I fear the author was making a night of it, when he penned this effusion.^ Passing over the elaborate description of the as«embling of the troops, in the Albert Barracks square, although I must protest against the charge that the 65th detachment arrived late on the ground, I come to the writer's beautiful picture of the " trooping of the colours." " The imposing ceremony," he observes, was conducted "after the manner in which such displays are arranged in Dublin." A conversation with his friendi of the band on the subject would have made the writer acquainted with the fact that trooping the Queen's colour is a ceremony not confined to Dublin

alone, and that trooping the " colouis " is nonsense. The feu de join is vividly described. The read. 1 ! can almost hear the rattle of the muskcti y. The" tn.ee> stunning cheeis" are done ample justice to, m language, however, more forcible than eleganc. We now come to the Wee/which is deauibed as "one of the largest ever assembled in Auckland." The wiitei in his enthusiaam, rather loses himsolf in the description of its glories, for he says there was a large concourse of ladies and gentlemen assembled 111 lront of the Assembly House, as well as of those within. How could those within be without with the concourse of well dressed people, &c. Our composer is evidently of too poetical a turn of mind to stick to the vulgar truth. Let us see what this very large levee really was, — and in applying the test, I will avail myself of the wiitei's information, leceived from his trusty friend " Jeames," who took the cards on the occasion. About 180 names appear on the list of those present at the levee. Of those many are twice repeated. Thus the Acting Attorney General and Mr. Whitaker are made two persons, and so in other instances. Deducting ten on this score, the number becomes reduced to 170. From this deducting 40 as representing those who either dare not or could not, in common decency, refuse to attend, we have loft 130 persons in the town of Auckland who were present at Colonel Wynyard's farewell levee. To say that those 130 persons represented the loyalty of Auckland would be absurd. The majority of the people, the middle class and respectable shopkeepers especially, avoiding the Colonel, evinced their loyalty in a different manner, quite as enthusiastically, and infinitely more sincere. The great mass of our citizens would feel deeply aggrieved if their measure of devotion to their Queen wore estimated by their respect for Her Representative. Although not present at the levee, there were hundreds who did full honour to Her Majesty's Birthday, enjoying themselves in a rational manner during the day, and like my friend of the ' New-Zealander making a nigHt of it at a brilliant ball, which, although confined to the snobs, that is to say to non-officials and unmilitary gents, passed off quite as satisfactorily as any of the balls of former years, held at Government House, in honour of Her Majesty. I say of former years for on this occasion the usual custom was regarded by Her Majesty's Representative as one more honoured in the breach than the observance, and Government House remained in utter darkness, I am, &c. Q in the Corker. May 26, 1855.