PORT CHALMERS GARRISON HALL.

Evening Star, Issue 7167, 22 March 1887, Page 4

PORT CHALMERS GARRISON HALL.

Port Chalmers was en file yesterday afternoon when the Garrison Hall was opened by His Excellency the Governor, attended by the Hon, Mr Fortescue (private secretary). There were also present Lieutenant - colonel Wales, Commandant Goldie, Captain White (Peninsula Navals), Mr James Mills, and the civic authorities. For the last two months preparations have been made towards opening the Carnival, and joint Committees of the L Battery and Port Chalmers Naval Artillery have worked very successfully towards carrying the Carnival into'effect. The stalls are unique in their construction, being built on a semi-circular principle, and at the back of each there is a stde-show ; while the four stalls are placed in such a position that a free promenade is afforded in front and at the rear of each. His Excellency said: Colonel Wales, officers, non-commissioned officers, and men of the Port Chalmers Artillery and Naval Volunteer Force, —I can assure you that it is with great pleasure I come here this afternoon to open this new Garrison Hall, which you have provided for the wants of the Port Chalmers Volunteers. I am very glad to see that this step is taken, for it is an evidence that you are determined to make yourselves proficient in the drill necessary for the purpose for which you are enrolled. Of course you will quite understand thatany drill which takes place in this or any other hall cannot be regarded as a substitute for drill by daylight in the open air; but still, Volunteers, you know, and know well, have not their time entirely at their own disposal, and therefore these garrison halls are of enormous value in affording opportunity to Volunteers to practise their work at all seasons aud at all'timcs.—(Applause.) I am glad to see you have provided such an admirable Garrison Hall as that I am about to open, and in passing I may say—although it has not special reference to the object for which the hall is constructed—that I am delighted to see the beautiful decorations provided this afternoon, which I suppose are designed more especially to honor the occasion for which we are now assembled. One or two words now, while opening the hall, in reference to the object for which it exists. I daresay many of the young ladies and gentlemen present from three to five years of ago will not care to hear much about what I am now going to say; but there are a great number here and outside who do care, and who have shown by the erection of this hall that they care about the matter—that matter is the defence of New Zealand.—(Applause.) You know I take a great interest in this matter. Well, now, we must all remember that the defence of Now Zealand is a naval defence. It is on the lines of communication at sea that New Zealand will he mainly defended. Her commerce will be protected by the ships of the British squadron, aud that is the main object of the defence of New Zealand. But in connection with that naval defence, and supporting that naval defence, aud indeed part and parcel of that naval defence, is the protection of these ports, one of which is Port Chalmers. —(Applause.) We have Auckland, Wellington, Lyttelton, and Port Chalmers protected in the manner to which I refer. If these places are not protected the result will be that the naval squadron will have to operate for their protection instead of looking out for the enemy at sea on the lines of communication, where he should be met. Therefore you will see the defence of these ports is part and parcel—and a necessary part—of that defence. When you are told that the defence should be naval, not military, I quite agree; but this grand exception is to be remembered : that the defence of these ports is part and parcel of the naval defence of New Zealand. (Applause.) Ladies and gentlemen, this is the object for which thebatteries attheselleads areercctcd; that is the object for which you Volunteers that I see before me exist. You are : there to defend this port, to man the guns of ' this port, to protect those guns from capture. I That is the main object for which the I Volunteers of Port Chalmers, Lyttelton, ] Wellington, and Auckland exist. That is ! their business—to protect those ports which I are the nudd of our naval defence, and which at the same time are the great fori of the wealth of New Zealand. —(Applause). Well now, this hall has immediate reference to that object. It has for its object to train the gunners and others who will work the guns at the Heads which protect Port Chalmers, and so you in erecting this hall have done a very good thing indeed towards the defence of New Zealand.—(Applause). Bearing these things in view, I have, as I said, great pleasure in coming down to Port Chalmers to open this Garrison Hall; and I heartily wish, and hope, and trust, and think it will be used with great effect by the Volunteers I sec before me and others who may be engaged in the defence of Port Chalmers. And I heartily wish and believe that when the time arrives, if it ever does arrive, when you have to defend your port, you will do it with effect, and so as not to discredit our common country.---(Applause.) With these words I beg to declare this Garrison Hall open for the use of the Volunteers and others who arc charged with the defence of Port Chalmers.