AUCKLAND CATHOLIC INSTITUTE.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXV, Issue 3751, 27 July 1869, Page 5

AUCKLAND CATHOLIC INSTITUTE.

Last evening a concert was held in aid of the debt ou the Catholic Institute, Wellingtonstreet. There were between 300 and 400 persons present, and the whole affair passed off with the utmost eclat. The Institute was established in 1860. It is a literary Society, having for its object the moral and intellectual improvement of its members. It offers useful and agreeable employment for the leisure hours of those connected with the Institute, and there is no doubt that it has been the means of doing much good among the young men of Auckland. By a course of readings, recitations, essays, lectures, and debates, and with the assistance of a good library it familiarises the the members with our best writers and orators, and teaches them to write and speak with some degree of fluency and correctness, and to take their proper sharo in the business of the colony. The property of the members was acquired in 1865, at a cost of £1,100, and since that time, notwithstanding the bad times, the debt has been reduced to £350, and the concert last evening must have considerably lessened this amount. The following is the programme that was gone through :—: — Part 1 : Chorus," Carnivale " (Rossini); song, "Lonely Harp" (Oowell), Miss Shanaghan; reading, "My Uncle, a Mystery," Mr. T. M. King ; song, " Star of Love " (Wallace), Mr. Yates; duet, "Lover's Quarrels" (Glover), Miss Griffin and Mr, Belfrage ; trio," Red Cross Knight," Messrs. Quinn, Wamkins, and Forrester; song, "Irishman's Serenade," Mr. Kavanagh ; reading, " The Vulgar Little Boy," Mrs. Eoberb Heir; song," Queen's Letter" (Hobbs), Mr. Singer ; chorus, " Bridesmaids " (Weber). Part 2 : Chorus, " These Moments" (Donizetti) ; song, " I'm Waiting at your Window " (Bellini), Mr. Belfrage ; reading, " The Ruined Cottage," Mr. T. M. King ; song, " Tho' the last glimpse of Erin " (Moore), Miss Griffin ; song, •< The Sexton" (Russell), Mr. Daniels ; duet, "Home to our mountains" (Verdi), Miss Shanaghan and Mr. Yates ; reading, " The Bells" (Poe), Mrs. Robert Heir ; song, " Kathleen Avourneen," Mr. Kavanagh ; chorus, "'The Fisherman's" (Auber) ; " God save the Queen." Among the best things of the evening we may mention the readings of Mrs. Heir, which were "The Vulgar Little Boy" and "The Bells." The readings of this talented actress were loudly applauded, and after '* The Bells " she was compelled to accede to the unanimous cry for an encore by the recitation of a scene from "Romeo and Juliet." Miss Shanaghan and Mr. Kavanagh, of the 18fch Royal Irish, ruceived some of the most enthusiastic applause of the evening, and Mr. King's reading likewise met with a fair amount of appreciation. Mr. Singer presided at the pianoforte, and as might have been expected, gave general satisfaction. On the whole the concert was one of the most successful we have beea present at for some time paat. *