THE GABRIEL'S GULLY CELEBRATION.

Evening Star, Issue 14575, 25 May 1911, Page 6

THE GABRIEL'S GULLY CELEBRATION.

[By Ocra Own Reporter.] LAWRENCE, May 34. The afternoon was occupied with the f' football tournament (seven, a side) and the . sports meeting at Glasgow Park. As £3O was taken at tho gate there must have been ' ,' minimum of 800 present, for most of the 1 pioneers turned up, and they were, of coarse, guoste. They are guests at every- " tiling, and could not have been more hos- • pitably treated if they had formed a royal retinue. This £3O really means £6O with the Government subsidy, and I am told that in the expectations no account wae taken of revenue from that source. Speaking of revenue, the treasurer is not vet able to say anything very definite as to ' how the gathering will come out financially. ' As a fact, the expenditure is beyond the ■ estimate, owing to the patronage exceed- » ing expectations; but the treasurer and f the chairman too speak quite lwpefully t about the balance-sheet, and the most I cautious members of the Committee say , that at the worst, if there is a deficit, it 5 is not likely to be formidable. The Government subsidy of £ for £ up to £SOO is a tine stand-by. As to the sport*, though the chairman of this Committee (Mr H. Hart) was unfortunately called away the day before, ever\-t.hing was well managed. The pro-' needings were agreeably varied and kept moving, so thai everything was over by a quarter to five. ' ! The chief draw was the football tourna- > I ment, which resulted thus:—First round: Wniwera (15) teat Jubilee B (0) ; Waipori .. (14) beat Lawrence B (0) ; Lawrence A (5) " heat Milton (3) ; Jubilee A (Blue Spur) a J bve. Second round: Waivera (3) beat • Jubilee A (0); Lawrence A (3) beat Wai ; V-ori (0). Final : Waiwera (14) beat Law--1 rence A (0). Most of the play was in 3 teresting. The. 50 Yards Handicap for pioneers of > 1861 produced twelve runners, and re 3 suited in a dead heat between L. Mathic- , Hon and F. Calvert. The Walking Race for 1861 pioneers found | J. Cosiin winning, with A. Eraser second. ' and R. Fellows third. As this walking race hardly turned out ; satisfactorily, owing to some of the old 5 gentlemen " mixing" the gait, a go-as-you- ■ f.lease was arranged, and this was a soft - thing at the finish fof Henry Walton, owing | to another man who had been leading . falling in the straight. Tho Ticket Race attracted a large fielo '. of sprinters, and R. Dempscy (2Jy<ls) won ■ bv three inches from Albert M'Cunn (scr.) "The combined Tuai«ka and Waitahuna ' Rand piaved during the afternoon, and a lot. of fun'was caused by the hobble-skirt ' and other clou ting race.- in costume. I must not forget to mention as one of the feat urea of this function that a lady I piper (Miss Ross) played at intervals, and played well too. THE DINNER. At 7 p.m. the pioneers sat down to a full dinner of the eatable sort served in the Volunteer Hall. Special precautions were taken to ensure that the men of 1861 got their allotted seats before anyone rk-r was accommodated The caterers—the three bakens doing business in Lawrence—set for 150. tint heing the limit of the space available, and when all the places were occupied thirty had to wait for a chance. It therefore appeai-s that 180 a.ttonded* the dinner. The meal itself was like that of a great Christmas family party, and no awkward pause chilled the company between the eating and the toasts, for whilst the dessert was being discussed the strains of a violin set going the more vivacious of the elderly ones, and thev started to do steps on the floor, and when Mr Richaid Hay, himself a local resident of nearly iifty yeans' standing, mounted the platform and struck up a. jig three or four greybeards, stimulated by nothing stronger than the current of fraternal feeling, scrambled up the steps and contended for a chance to show what | they could do. There would have been two or three dancing at once had not the j chairman (Mr J. Rolieru-on) adroitly controlled the situation by calling on Mr Hay to give a coon song or anything else he liked liv way oi interlude. 'Mr Hay responded with an electrifying nigger song of the old Alabama coon type, and the applause set all the, china rattling. Then Mr Jolui S. Hope, of the Thames —a bearded veteran—tendered a fine ditty about Dinah the darkey, and he followed this up with a ,' hornpipe. No sooner had he stopped than ' Mr John Pearson, of Timaru. rushed in ahead of two or three others who wished ; to perform, and he astonished the crowd with his jig. If the chairman had not in- : lervened half the company would have gone up in turn or out of turn. But Mr Robertson had a long piogranuno to get through, and he cleverly postponed the doings of the eager patiiarehs, doing 111 its in a manner that could not offend anybody. In a few virile phrases lie proposed the toast of " The . King," and us scon as the piano lock could ; be forced one of the diggers gave out the accompaniment which opened up nearly ; 200 strong throats in a mighty chorus of ; loyalty. j Then came the one toast of the evening : j—"Our Guests, the Men of 1861" —jno- ' posed by Mr John ('. Browne. :.<:;t:uy of ' the Organising Committee. Mr Browne j he felt that to lie the proudest mo- j ment of his life. It was a very high honor to be called on to propose a toast which j went to tho root, of a unique event- an \ event which would probably never occur ( again under the same conditions. It war, '< Mr John Scott to whom the inspiration ; first came. Some credit was due also to I uicir fellow townsman Mr Blair, who com- ; iniinicated the idea to the Press, and Mr . Robertson was chosen as the man to t ,et the scheme on foot and carry it out. —(Ap- ! plause.) No better man could have been ; chosen for the task.—(Cheers.) 'J here war, ' plenty of discouragment at first. People j said : "What is the use of bringing a lot | of cripples here in the winter time? Wn j shall need a host of doctors to attend to i them." But the promoters took no notice <if tho croakers. Assisted by the Pre.-.;, ! 1 the promoters went on corresponding and i ci.llecting information. They made no at- : tempt to answor the objectors. They pre- : I te.rred to wait, and they now had a final : a, .swer in the men who had assembled. A ' finer body of men than llrse who marched in the pioeesoion could net be found. One young lady, after seeing these pioneers wal„ paist. said : "I wish I had lived titty : yeaiv, ago."—(Laughter.) The Committee.'*:'! labors were now fully rewarded. The oh- j ject they had in view was not to push i themselves into the limelight, but to show •• what New Zealanders could do and had done, and to bring together men who had carried their share of the burdens in the ! old and strenuous days.—(Applause.) No fewer than eleven pioneers were t,et down to reply to the toast—viz.. Mr A. \ Burt (Duik'd.n), Mr .1. B. Gnscoigiie (Auckland), Mr H Wilkinson (Invetcargill), Mr J. GrimmcTid (Ross), M< S. Dixon (Haweral, Mr J. L. Potter (Timaru), Mr (!. Rymer Oapier), Mr G. Calder (North-east Valley). ( and Mr W. Cunningham (Feilding). The honoring of tnis comprehensive toast ! occupied the guests till 10.50. It was j agreed at ten o'clock to postpone all further proceedings, except one matter of ur- I gency—namely, a, presentation to Mr Jas. Robertson, mayor. ! Mr A. Burt was chosen as spokesman for j the pioneers. In a few appropriate phrases i < he told the mayor how the men of 1861 I • appreciated the way they had been treated, | , and asked Mr Robertson to accept from ' - them a gold watch, suitably inscribed, also j j a sovereign ease with something in it. ' , There was also a present for Mrs Robert- j , son, this being a gold brooch. I , Some unconscious humorist here sug- j j gested that, in order to give .Mr Robertson : ] an opportunity to collect his thoughts for I , a reply, a bagpipe solo should be played, . . and Miss Ross complied with the sugges- j • (ion, after which Mr Robertson duly I thanked the donors. ' One further proposition came from Mr ; H. Harraway, who asked the company to j i rise and in silence honor the memory of | Mr and Sirs Peter Robertson, two of the j [ four persons residing in the district when ! gold was discovered. j 1 This was duly done, and the meeting ended before eleven with the singing of i ' Auld lang syne ' and ' God save the King.' <

OTHER CELEBRATIONS. Whilst the dinner was going on in tht Volunteer Hall a concert for the public and the visitors who are not pioneers was proceeding in the Town Hall, and for the benefit of the crowd who could not squeeze into either place there was a fine show of fireworks in the streets. All present at the , concert were agreed as to the quality of , the entertainment. One feature was Mr ) A. Campbell's singing of ' Thora.' and as , an encore' ' Mary.' Mr G. W. Johnstone , made a hit with the 'Toreador's sor.g.' The [ duet from 'Pinafore' by Miss Woods and . Mrs Sandys went splendidly, and Mr Orr . brought down the house with comic songs. A 1 Highland fling by Miss P. Higgins, daughter of Sergeant Higgins, was also a treat, . this young lady dancing very neatly. A i local waxworks show formed an admirable [ feature of the entertainment. Nearly £25 was taken at the door, and as many were ,:iut out as were let in. > The name of Mr David Findlay, Cargill (rent. Dunedin, was omitted from the list of pioneers who took part in the procession •t Lawrence. He is taking part in the [ celebrations.