CANTERBURY CATHOLIC LITERARY SOCIETY.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVIII, Issue 3, 16 May 1890, Page 7

CANTERBURY CATHOLIC LITERARY SOCIETY.

The custom has hitherto been to request persons in our city, and, in most instances, persons who are not members, to honour the Society with a public lecture, and under the Society's auspices many excellent lectures have been given by clergymen and by professional and even private gentlemen. But on Tuesday evening, May 6, there was what Mr. W. B. Perceval, M.H.R., the president, and who presided on the occasion, termed " a departure " from this ordinary course. Mr. F. Cooper, a young but enthusiastic and promising member, then favoured the Society with a complete account of his recent visit to the West Coast Sounds. Mr. Cooper, a photographic artist, and a keen observer and admirer of nature, was tent by his employer, Mr. Wheeler, the well-known photographer, to sketch places of interest on the West Coast. Mr. Noble was also present at the lecture with an oxy-hydrogen magic lantern, and with this instrument threw very many glorious views on to a large screen. More than one hundred persons, among whom was a fair number of ladies, attended. Mr, Cooper's discourse began with his departure from Christchurcb, and the view first given was one of Cathedral square. Next came Dunedin, the late Exhibition buildings, Port Chalmers, and that most dreary place— the Bluff. Fiom the latter place a start was made for tbe Sounds. Preservation Inlet was first entered, and of this lovely spot a graphic description was given and several excellent sketches were shown. The audience was then gratified with an account and with many views of Dusky Sound. This inlet was visited over a hundred years ago by Captain Cook, and when not a few of his sailors were sick from the effects of a long sea- voyage. But in Dusky Sound the great navigator discovered a quantity of vegetables and an abundance of fresh water that, rushed down in torrents over the cliffs into the sound, and with these supplies and with the mild climate and delightful aspect of the place, many of his men recovered. The waters of the sound are smooth, and the noise of the ocean without is distinctly beard. Finally Mr. Cooper spoke, ani views were shown, of the far-famed and enchanting Milford Sound. Mr. Noble threw on to the Bcrcen a general view of this sound, Mitre Peak, the Lion, the Bowen Falls, the Sutherland Falls, also Mr. Sutherland's hut near the former falls, and a lake and a valley near the latter. Mr. Cooper spoke likewise of Mr. Sutherland, known a 9 the hermit of Milford Sound. A few miscellaneous portraits, such as Mount Cook and the great Tasman Glacier, were also shown. Mr. Cooper varied his discourse with anecdote, and kept his listeners deeply interested quite two hours. At the end of the discourse a vote of thanks was proposed by the president to the lecturer and to Mr. Noble, and seconded by Mr. K. P. Lonargan, who said he was highly pleased with both lecture and lecturer, particularly as Mr. Cooper was the Society's first active member to undertake a public lecture.