ST. MARY'S SOCIAL GATHERING.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1200, 1 March 1895, Page 32

ST. MARY'S SOCIAL GATHERING.

A concert and social gathering, given by St. Mary's choir in aid of the presbytery fund, took place on Feb. 26 in the Drillshed, and passed off very pleasantly. There was a large attendance, and the concert items, which were furnished by the Cathedral choir, were warmly received. Mr S. Cimino was conductor, and Miss Kelly played the accompaniments. The programme opened with a capital tableau entitled " St. Cecilia," by Miss Ailey Pender and pupils of the Convent School. Glees, quartets and duets formed the staple of the concert, and they were all nicely executed, two quartets by Kreutzer, viz., " What Beams so Bright" and " The Sabbath Day," being particularly worthy of mention. Miss Pender and Messrs Laishley, Loughnan and McManaway formed the quarttt. The glees were " The Ironfounders" (Pearson), " The Village Blacksmith" (Hatton), "The Watchword" (Pinsuti), and "Good Night" (Courtnay). Misses Pender and Gibbes, and Messrs Gamble and McManaway contributed Barnby's quartet "Silent Night." Miss Gibbes and Mrs Cimino sang " O that we two were Maying" (Gatty), and Misses Pender and Gibbes sang " In tho Dusk of the Twilight." Mr R. A. Loughnan was heard to advantage in " The Holy City," and in response to an imperative recall repeated the last stanza. Mr Gibson rendered with good effect " A Little Mountain Lad," and Master Charlie Cimino played with much ability a violin solo, viz., Levett's arrangement of " The Carnival of Venice." At a convenient interval in the programme the Very Rev Father Dawson (Administrator) presented Mr R. A. Loughnan, on behalf of the Cathedral choir, with a handsome meerschaum pipe, mounted with gold and . suitably inscribed along the rim of the bowl. In making the presentation, the rev gentleman said he felt assured the duty which had been entrusted to him was as pleasing and grateful to the audience as it was to himself. They had known Mr Loughnan longer perhaps than he had. He held a prominent public position, but it was not in virtue of or in connection with his public position that the presentation was being made to Mr Loughnan. His reward for whatever services he rendered in that capacity must be looked for in the appreciation of the public. Wherever they saw Mr Loughnan, in public or in private, it was with a genial smile on his face and a pleasant word for everybody on his lips, and this served to endear him to all who had the pleasure of being acquainted with him. The present was a small recognition of his long services as a member of the Cathedral choir. There was only one thing he regetted in making the presentation, and this was that the choir had kept their intention so close a secret that he (Father Dawson) was debarred from joining as a contributor. He hoped that the pipe would add to Mr Loughnan's pleasures, prove a solace amid care and worry, and that all his troubles and sorrows might vanish in smoke. (Applause.) Mr Loughnan, in returning thanks for

the present, twitted the choir with their address in inveigling him into singing at a concert at which they intended making him the recipient of a public presentation. At the close of the concert dancing took place till shortly before midnight, Cimino's string band supplying the music.