HIGHLAND SOCIETY.

Southern Cross, Volume 19, Issue 24, 23 September 1911, Page 6

HIGHLAND SOCIETY.

(By “Rambler.”)

Well do I remember the first annual gathering. It was held in Han-, an’s Hall on 12th November, 1807. Mr I). A. Cameron, of Xokomai, was then the Chief of the Society , and discharged his duties \( ith giace and dignity—has not Tan Me Karen declared” that Highlanders arc gentlemen by ! birth ? The Caledonian Pipe Band, under Pipe-Major K. Cameron, was a credit to any Society, and did its part right well. Mrs Blue was the accompanist, and the programme was redolent of Caledonia stern and wild. There were three Gaelic songs, one Gaelic dialogue, and three addresses in Gaelic and Hnglish. One of the addresses was given by the scholarly .John Macrae. M.A., then of Otautau : the late Chieftain, A. Me Kell a r and Miss Kelso figured in the dialogue, and Mr A.. Kinross gave a poem on the gathering. Friday night. Bth Sw-pt.. found me at Victoria Hall for the Society's 16th gathering. There was' a good attendance, hut it was saddening to note thr changes that death and other circumstances have made during the intervening yews. Many of the old. familiar faces have disappeared, and the audience, it was easy to see. was not so purely Highland as of

yore. Descendants of the founders of the Society were there in numbers, but they evidently regard its functions as more those of a social than of an educational or patriotic nature, and the programme. good though it was land Scottish in character. contained only one Gaelic address. The Chief, Mr A. McGregor, presided, and. the Pipe Hand, in addition to other selections, pl.ayed :a lament for the late Chief, Mr McKean. The Society was not always regarded as a purely social organisation, for I remember that in 1905 two beds and two chairs were presented to the Hospital in memory of the late Sir Hector McDonald, and on another occasion y concert was got up to obtain funds towards ai memorial to the late Quentin McKinnon, the explorer. who was drowned in Fake Te Amin. On that occasion Mr T. McKenzie, M.P., gave an address, and Mr A. Kinross recited one of his own poems. One is apt to regard the old times as the best, but I do miss the friends of old. who revelled in songs and addresses that recalled the land of their fathers.

The ball in the King’s Rink, was brilliantly successful, and greatly enjoyed by the yyung people. At first I thought the dancers were all youthful, but about 2 a.in. I caught a glimpse of Mr Andrew Kinross dancing a hornpipe, and doing it with a vigour and grace that garve no hint of his having passed his 82nd milestone. lie has verily ‘■'warmed both hands at the fire of life." May he long continue to do so, and maintain the reputation of the c>ld brigade.