SMOKE CONCERT.

Otago Witness, Issue 2273, 23 September 1897, Page 21

SMOKE CONCERT.

ENTERTAINMENT OF EX-IMPERIAIi . SERVICE MEN. At the Garrison Hall on Friday night a complimentary smoke concert was tendered by the exvolunteers in the OSago district to the exImperial service man who ' took part in the procession in X)un«din on Jubilee Day, The chair was filled by Major S. N. Brown, who was supported on the right by ex-Captain Kirkcaldy, Me H. Gourley (mayor of Dunedin), Surgeon-major Coughtrey, Captain M'tifturin (Soottish Borderers), and Mr F. Beiseel (City Guards), and on the left by Colonel Webb (Otago district), Captain Davis (late 16th Foot), Major Haigb. (late Wakari Rifle*). Mr Henry Jackson (Natal Carbineers), Captain Milne and C*ptain Falconer (Wellington) , There were about 450 other gentlemen present, among whom were a number of prominent citizens and m*ny of the ex-volun-teers of Ot&go and ex-Imperial service men who were in the prooesiion. The latter occupied a table by themselves in front of the Btage. One of thee specially worthy of mention if Thomas Storrey, a Crimean veteran, who had come in from Evansdale to attend the function.

The Citizens' Band .played a selection, after which The Chairman, who was received with applause, said that in openiog the proceeding 3ib was right he should siy a few word* explanatory of the reason why he w.is occupying the position of chairman — a position the holding of •which, he need scarcely say, was a great honour. He regretted only one thing, and that was that the duties of the office were not in more capable hands. As a matter of fact, Colonel Callan, who was in command of the parade of exvolunteers and ex-Imperial men on Jubilee Day, should by rights have occupied the position of chairmen, but unfortunately cii'Cumstßnccs had arisen which necessitated his going up coantry. Before going, however, he had addressed the following letter to him :—: —

My Dear Major Brown,— l have to thank you for the invitation to be present at the smoke CDncert on Friday night next to be given in honour of the ex-Imperial service men, anrl I regret to have to ask you to apologise for my absence, as I' find I shall have to go to the country on that day, and will therefore be unable to attend. I regret this exceedingly, as it would g've me great pleasui'e to be present and to help iv doing honour to the ex-Imperial men, who did so much by their numerous attendance — in spite of many difficulties — to make the procession a success on Jubilee Day. Trustiug that your concert may ba as great a success as the procession was, and that your guests may thoroughly enjoy themselves. Colonel Reeves had also written saying he could not be present, and those who understood his position would know his reason for saying so. Ib was, indeed, & source of gratification to the Committee of Management to see such a large attendance. He was cure they had nob anticipated it. It was a huge gathering that all the ex- volunteers of Dauedin would h»ve reason to be yroud of, and he trusted that all present would heartily enjoy themselves, and th*t the concert would live long in theii* remembrance. The first toast of the evening was " Her Majesty the Queen," and after the veny d?servu>g mauner in wnich the praise's of her Majesty had been sang the world over for some months pas') it was not necessary that he should add anything to what had already been so well eaid as to the b-iliianb fame of the Qaeen. — (Apptauee.) The toast was received with enthusiasm, the au.Hence singing the " National Anthem," accompanied by the band, ,

In proposing the toasfc of the evening — " Ovir G-uests" — the Chairman said it was only right that he should give a brief history of how the function they were taking part ia had come about, and what had led up to it. As they wera aware, at the time of the Jubilee in June I. b wa3 suggested by one or two gentlemen in the city, and more especially in that connection he might mention Lieutenant M'Gallum and Captain Kirkcftldy, that there shculd be a paracU of ex volunteers, apd he did not kuow whether it was an original idea or subsequent that along with the ex-volunteera should bs assooiated the ex- military and land and sea forces of the Imperial service. Afc all events a meeting was called, which was largely attended, and the result was that on Jubilea Day the procession of ex-volunteers and ex-Imperial service men formed * very important feature of the day's proceedings. — (Applause.) Not only were they largely present in numbers, but he thought the manner in which they did their marchioß up hill and down hill and saw it out to the bitter end — Colonel Webb himself congratulated them on the fact — was mosb than creditable to them. — (Applause.) It was the original iutentioa of the ex- volunteers to recognise on that day, tha large attendance of their veteran comrades,bub there were so many thing* in progress at the time that such a thing could not be carried out. It was not lost right of, however, and it was decided to entertain their friends ia the manner they were doing that night. — (Applauee.) Apart altogether from the Jubilee, ib was a commendable thing that the citizens of any town should recognise that number of their fallow menamongsb them who had served their Qaeen and country in the prime of their lite. — (Applausa.) Such services should ba of tener recogois :d than they were. — (Applause.) The great majority of the men were strangers to him, but at the same time he recognised that as a citizen and Briton be was under an obligation to them for hwing spent their bjst days in the service of the country, — (Applause ) On behalf of the ex-volunteere, he could say that they were proud to be in the company of these men. This was a country that had been gained in conquest — whether rightly or unjustly he could nob say,— and not ia peace as Australia was, and some of those men had shed their best blood to gain this land in which they now resided.— (Applause.) There were veterans at the foot of the hall who had seen service in various parts of the Empire and who had done good service in their day, and he was sure they would ba highly gratified to find their fellow citizens rallied round them on this occasion to do them proper honour. — (Applause.) He also mentioned that the names of all those present would be takeD, and lists prepared and presented to those taking part in the parade, as a souvenir of the ocsasion — (Applause.) He would now ask them to fill their glasses aud rise heartily and respond to the toast of the evening — "Ouc Guests," coupled with the name ot Captain Davis. — (Loud applause.) Captain Davis, in replying, said it was a very difficult matter for him to answer for the veterans of the various departments of the Imperial service when there were so many representatives present. Replying to the toast of " The Veterans " was very much like answering for the army and navy of the past, for there were present men of both services, and of every combatant branch of those services. The navy was strongly represented, but he could not classify the men by branches, as the majority of them had failed to give ia their ratings. Of the army, the artillery was fully represented, including horse, field, garrison, mounted, and marine.- It was true they had no Household Cavalry, but they had several of the Dragoon Guards, Heavy and Lifihb Drazocne, Hussars*

and Lancers. The infantry came well to the front — British infantry always did. — (Applause.) The Guards gave representatives from ench of the reg'msnfcs— Grenadiers, Coldetream?, and Scots, — and the infantry of the line; light infantry, . fusileers, rifles, and marine light infantry also contributed their quota. The Indian army was also represented, and two men wera present from tbe India Company's service. The departments did nob appear as well — some of them did not appear at all. There were 85 men on the veterans' roll, and he thought it would be a difficult matter to find iv any other town in the British dominions so many men got together by chance so thoroughly representative of the combatant Ijrauchss of the services. — (Applause.) The departments not represented were the medical, pay, and transport. Unfortunately they did not xequiro the services of a paymaster — (laughter), — but fortunately they were nob so shiky as to require a doctor or drags. It was only to be expected that some of them would ge L > shaky with age, but none of thf-m would ever geb shaky ia their, allegianoe to the Crown. — (Chesri.) He thought - that all present must acknowledge them to be 80 tough ohip3 off -remarkably tough old blocks of the Bcitisk army and navy. — (Applause.) Taey were not exactly the rrieti .to be picked out to undertake a long campaign, but if they were only pot conveniently near the men they were wanted to get at he fancied that with the old formation of ehouldec to shoulder for. fooliug and touch, as it was before loose order and section intervals • were invented, they might Btill giv» » good account of themselves. — .(APP^o.* 6 -) There was no one amongst them who bad barne arms during tin first three years of her Majesty's reign, but Thomas Woods, who was in the luoian navy and fought in the China war of 1841, was present;, as was also Corporal .Christie, of the 3rd Light Dragoons and 17th Lancers, who served m Baluchistan in 1843, Gwa'.ior in 1844, and Sindh 'in 1845. From then up to the end of the Zulu War — no one was with them wko was serving lufct-r than that — they had representatives of every war in which Britain had taken part. Though the last shot of the Crimean War was fired 12 years ago, they had C.-imean and Black Sea men by the dozen. One ship alone — the old Rodney, probably the finest i-pccimen 92 sailing line-of-battltship — contributed no lees than three: Davis (a midshipman), Archibald Fultaxfcon(A.B), and George Prescott (A.B.).—(Applause.) Tb.3 great; m*jjrity of the others came, i'rom the rank and lilo of the arm? ; and he wished the public throughout the Empire knew a grest deal more of that rank and fie than they did. There were strange misconceptions about the soldier as to his character and conduct — misconceptions which followed a man when he took his discharge and re-entered civil life and did him a serious amount of injury ; sometimes, he was eorry to say, ctuVmg him to acquire a character which had orginally been bestowed upon him. Some seemed to think the soldier a disagreeable sort of character.— (" No. :> ) S->me thought he approached the disreputable.— ("No.") He knew he did no 1 ", bit that was'Whafc was thought by socno people. Then a few t-xorecaists really appeared to think that ho was no 1 ; much better_ohan a New Zealand J.P. appointed nndec the new dispensation. — (Laughter.) Nothing could be further from the faci. Though he (the speaker) commenced his army servioe carrying a colour, not a musket — there were Btill muskets in those days — h-o believed he knew the soldier, the man iv the ranks, as thoroughly as it wa* possible for a human taing to know him, and he had a justoc and better opinion of him than he had himself. He had a juster and very much hotter opinion of him than those sections of the community to "which he had referred, and he asserted tba^ for morality eobriefey, honesty, and all that went to make up good conduct the eoldier would compare favourably with hia civilian compeers. There wai much evidence to support that assertion, including that of the Comraander-in- Chief. He knew, and they all kaew, civilians who habitually conducted themselves in a manner th%t would entail upon the soldier continual punishment, bub such civilians retained the respect of their fellow-oitizenSi held office in various churches, and were pat into every position which votes would put them iuto, and were even sent 'to the Hoos^ of liepresentatives. — (Laughter.) He was sorry to say that there had been no honour about that for a good many years pisfc. He did not want to paint the soldier as a saint. He was no saiut. Very generally he was a single man living in camp or barrack*, and as R-idyard Kipling said: Single men in barracks Don't turn into plaster saints. ***

But where would they find a thou3and single young men of the general population who, put to live in a camp or in isolated barracks, would b shave themselves half as well as the soldiers, did ? — (Applause.) Nowhare ; and every thinking man iv the room knew it. — (Applause.) Still; the soldier was no saint ; and ib was a good thing for the Eoapira that he was no saint. — (Hear, hear.) There were exeepVioa», of course, but as a rale the saintly soldier was abmt as. great a fraud as the pious commission agent — (laughter) ; — and the .piou.9 commission agent:, he took it, wai about the most unmitigated scouudrel this side of Hades. — (Renewed laughter.) He liked to speak of the soldier as he was— nob as he was represented to be by the more scurrilous and the more ignorant of our novelists, j jurualisbs, and, he was afraid he would have to add, here and there ouc historians. He wondered it had never struck those writers that men to whom was given so tremendous a tru6t, and who so invariably proved themselves worthy of that trust, in spite of any weakness and failings — and all rcen who were worth the name of men had wenknesee3 and failings, — must ba at bottom men of worth 'and integrity — probably of much greater worth and integrity than Iho3e who so scandalously wrote about them. Iv speaking of the soldier he had noi forgotten the veterans. The whole of those, had been soldiei'3. He included the man-of-war's men iv the term, as men trained to arms on the water were as much soldiers a? the men trained to arms on the l*nd. The whole of them had' been soldiers, and imny of them were sbill soldiers. They had the soldierly spirit, and it was the spirit — eos the wearing of a red or a blue coat — that made the soldier. They were soldiers who, though no longer under arms, bad not forgotten, and would never forget, the traditions and principles of their most sacred calling, and on their behalf, and on his own, he

thanked the company most sincerely for tha cordial manner in which they had received tha toast. — (Loud applause.) Later in the evening Captain Datis proposed the toast of: " Ex-volunteers," and in so doing referred in complimentary term 3to the exyolunteers who had promoted the parade, speaking , particularly of Messrs M'Callum and Donald Henderson. Mr Henderson h&d acted us secretary, k'e^surer, and paymaster, and to Mr M'Callum ha thought! tha inception of the parade was duo. All must admit that the parade was a decided success, and riot only so in point of numbers. - There was a good deal of work to be got out of them yet if they were only allowed to do it, and the volunteer regulations might be so altered that a reserve corps could be formed. ' The success of the parade on Jubilee D*y also pointed to the desirability o£ holding an annual parade of that sort — say, on the Queen's Birthday — and a similar meeting to the present one at night. The nieces* of 'the whal« undertaking was due entirely- to the ex-volunteers, who had defrayed all lhe expenses in connection with the parade — toMe £15 — without calling upon the old soldiers for a penny. The exvolunteera and old soldiers were almost strangers to each other until the parade,- bat the old ' soldiers had been treated .not as strangers, but as old comrades;— (Applause.) He would like to mention in addition to the - ordinary preparations of -the evening the kind gift of a pipe to' every veteran that had been . m*de by Captain Kirkcaldy. It mu»t be gratifying to the whole of the citizens to s«e so kindly a feeling.exfating between the ex-voluateera and , ex-Imperial service men. -- Ha had much. pleasure 'in coupling with the toswb of " The ex- Volunteers." the namn of Captvta Kirkcaldy, Oaptain White, and Captain Haigh. Tue toast was drunk atnids*; enfchusiatm and musical honoura, aud three oheera were given for C*pfcaiu Davis

The musical programme was suitable to the occasion. Me Charles Umbers sang " The Englishman " ; Mr Harry Smith, " Bale, Britannia," Assisted by the Citizens' Band ; Mr J. T. Carter, " The British Lion " ; and Me F. D. Jones, "The Death of Nelson," which was heartily received. Me W. Farquhar Young saag " Soldiers of the Quaen," a peculiarly appropriate item for the occasion, which was reoeived with the warmest enthusiasm, and ia response to an undeniable encore g&vq " The Admiral's Bcoooo," whiok wa* also fitting for the gathering. A quartet, consitting'of MMtrs Blinkiasopp, Joues, H. Smith, and Ibbotson, contributed "The soldier's f are well Jl .aud, a« an encore, '' Alnxye, more." Liter in the evening, tho same party sang " Sleep, thou wild rose," and subsequently, with the addition of Mr^Umbers, they g*ve "On the m»rch." An eajoyaVlo item, was the trumpet o»lis of the infantry," givjen by Mr Ure. Mr Felbhmm was to have givan thosa of the cavalry, but was unavoidably absent. The Ciliz9us' Band, in addition to services already mentioned, pUyed. a selection of national &irs« which proved very enjoyable. Mr Henry Jaoli* son, on 6of the 18 survivors of the massaore of Isaudula, who also took part in the defence o£ Rorke'a • Drift, told tbe", story .o£ the ' s.wage - afcfctck of the Zulus .on the British force, leading np to .the successful holding' of the pass by a handful of soldiers against a' horde of their opponents.' Mr Jacksou's recital of his experiences of the terrible time was heartily appreciated, Jais ( remark* being eever&l tiaaes interrupted < Vy, applause. Mr David Cooke acted as, hon. aooompanisb during the evening. The musical arrangements wore voder the control qf .Messrs J. Ricbardiorx" 1 and R. R. Taylor, Me D. Henderson was" the secretary, and Mr J. B. H'CMlum was the general manager of the arrangements. The catering "was iv the capable hands of the Oovenu Garden Company.

The proceedings were brought- to a close afe H. 15 pm. by the siDgiDg of the National Anthem and cheers. '