The Simonsen Opera Company’s 1876 Tour of New Zealand

Turnbull Library Record, Volume 23, Issue 2, 1 October 1990, Page 99

The Simonsen Opera Company’s 1876 Tour of New Zealand

ADRIENNE SIMPSON

When Gabriel Read found gold by the Tuapeka River on a May evening in 1861, he started far more than a gold-rush. Following his discovery, the population of Otago doubled in six months, inaugurating a general acceleration in population growth throughout the entire country. In the wake of the gold boom, the sleepy little village of Dunedin was quickly transformed into an elegant town, with solid buildings and equally solid social pretensions. It became the commercial and administrative hub of New Zealand’s most populous province and its prosperity spread outwards to influence other areas of the country. Where there is money, people soon learn to buy time for leisure. Mechanics institutes, libraries, and a multitude of sporting and recreational organisations, had already begun to spring up in larger centres, to satisfy a growing need for leisure-time activities. In the wake of the miners, however, a variety of touring entertainers, from jugglers and acrobats to fully fledged dramatic companies, began to pour across the Tasman to seek their fortunes in the developing towns of New Zealand.

On 18 March 1876, the Australasian carried a report from one such touring entertainer the popular actor and writer of melodramas, George Darrell, who had originally arrived as a gold-miner on the West Coast and who had cut his theatrical teeth in the company of such notable Dunedin amateur thespians as Julius Vogel. ‘I am afraid New Zealand is going to be just a little overdone with amusements’, Darrell warned his colleagues in Melbourne. ‘There are now two opera companies, two circuses, Smith’s combination, a burlesque troupe, four dramatic companies, several small companies, and De Murska is coming.’ 1 As an enumeration of the number of performers who would actually pass through the country during the year, his words proved an understatement. They did, however, illustrate just how overcrowded the entertainment scene in New Zealand had become.

Before Darrell’s report was published, the second of his ‘two opera companies’ had landed at Port Chalmers. 2 The Simonsen Royal English, Italian and Opera-Bouffe Company —directed by the violinist and conductor Martin Simonsen and with his wife, Fanny, as prima donna arrived from Melbourne by the steamer Arawata on 6 March 1876, at the start of a tour that was to last eight and a half months

and encompass towns as far apart as Invercargill and Thames. The Simonsens were following in the pioneering footsteps of W. S. Lyster, who had presented the first fully-staged operas in New Zealand a dozen years before. Like Lyster, they began with a season in Dunedin. The most immediately noticeable fact about the Simonsen Company was its size. It was ‘larger than any which has yet visited Dunedin’ observed the critic of the Otago Witness.

Mr Simonsen deserves success for his spirited enterprise in bringing to New Zealand a company complete as regards band, chorus, ballet, and other auxiliaries, with which he is able to produce in first-class style the different operas comprised in his repertoire. 3 ‘Sixty Performers’ were promised in the advance publicity and, remarkably enough, this proved only the slightest of exaggerations. The orchestra included some of the best professionals in Australia and, at never less than twelve instrumentalists, was considered very large by New Zealand standards.

The fashion of the day demanded ballet sequences in opera. In addition to a corps de ballet of six, Martin Simonsen had secured the services of Henry Leopold and his family enormously popular dancers who were able to provide divertissements at the end of the shorter operas and all manner of comic ‘business’ in the lighter works. Henry Leopold was also listed as stage manager, a tide which, in the nineteenth century, included responsibility for production. The chorus numbered sixteen performers and would frequendy have been augmented by those soloists not otherwise required in the current opera. To complement the performances, the Company carried with it a number of appropriate backdrops specially commissioned from well known scenic artists. These not only excited admiration throughout the tour but meant there was no need to rely on whatever stock backdrops were available in local theatres. Amongst the support staff was a mechanist, to work the ‘transformation scenes’ so beloved of nineteenth century audiences and deal with special effects, including pyrotechnics.

This care for detail helped predispose the public of Dunedin to look favourably upon the Simon sen Company. So did the fact that it brought new repertoire. Patrons ‘have had, during the last two or three years, a surfeit of stock and hackneyed operas’ wrote the Otago Daily Times columnist later in the tour. 4 In Dunedin, as elsewhere, Martin Simonsen’s operatic novelties were much appreciated. His Company’s grandiose title clearly indicated an intention to offer works from a variety of operatic genres. English opera was represented by the perennially popular Maritana of Vincent Wallace (first produced in 1845) and Balfe’s The Bohemian Girl (1843). From the Italian repertoire came Bellini’s Norma and La Sonnambula (both 1831), and Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor (1835) and Lucrezia Borgia (1833) —all favourite roles for Fanny

Simonsen —as well as the thundering melodrama of Verdi’s II Trovatore (1853). The French tradition of opera-bouffe was well represented by Offenbach’s Grand Duchess of Gerolstein (1867) and La Perichole (1868), Aime Maillart’s Les Dragons de Villars (1856), performed in English under the title The Hermit’s Bell, and Lecocq’s sparkling La Fille de Madame Angot (1872). The last three were all new to New Zealand, as was Auber’s opera-comique La Part du Diable (1843), performed in English as Carlo Broschi. From the French grand opera repertoire the Simonsens brought Gounod’s Faust (1859) and Auber’s La Muette de Portici, advertised under its alternative title of Masaniello. In addition there was one German work, Flotow’s charmingly melodic Martha (1847), and the classic Mozart opera The Marriage of Figaro (written in 1778), making sixteen operas in all. Two others (Weber’s Der Freischixtz and Rossini’s Barber of Seville) were advertised but never performed. Madame Angot, the newest work in the repertoire, was the runaway success of the tour, notching up thirty-six performances. Its nearest rival proved to be The Hermit’s Bell, for which Martin claimed the Australasian rights, and which was played twenty-three times. All the operas were performed in English, apart from Lucia, Lucrezia Borgia and Norma, which were sometimes given in Italian, especially during the early part of the tour. La Sonnambula was played in an English version, in which the recitatives were replaced by spoken dialogue. This had the effect of shortening the work, so its presentation was always accompanied by a concert, or a single act from another opera, as a makeweight.

Martin’s advertised promise that he would present his operas ‘with a completeness and splendour never before witnessed in these colonies’ was another attraction. Even Lyster, with his undoubted devotion to high standards, had sometimes been guilty of cutting operas drastically so that more than one could be fitted into an evening. Other companies simply left out the passages their performers could not sing. Dunedin newspapers were not slow to notice that the Simonsen Company was so richly endowed, vocally, that it could field a double quartet of soloists, thus allowing alternatives to the main singers. Past experience had proved there were ‘very few vocalists capable of sustaining the leading part in opera night after night either with satisfaction to themselves or to the audience’. 5

Another factor in the Company’s favour was public interest in the Simonsens themselves. They had visited New Zealand in 1867/8, during the course of an extended concert tour around the world, and made a great impression. Fanny’s singing and acting had immediately been compared with that of Lyster’s prima donna, Lucy Escott, and found ‘superior in every respect’. 6 Martin’s violin playing, which he displayed in technically showy fantasias upon popular airs, was equally highly esteemed. In New Zealand, at least, their prowess had provided

something of a yardstick against which other performers could be judged. 7 Since settling permanendy in Melbourne in the 1870 s, Fanny’s success as a leading prima donna for W. S. Lyster had been noted in the New Zealand papers. Her husband’s situation in Australia had been less happy. He was valued as a violinist and as a chorus trainer, but Lyster preferred other conductors. Martin’s ambitions as an operatic conductor and director almost certainly motivated him to organise a company of his own. Lyster’s virtual monopoly of the Australian market dictated the choice of New Zealand as a touring venue.

The performers who came together in Dunedin for the 1876 Simonsen tour had never previously worked as a team. Some, including the leading contralto Miss E. A. (Nelly) Lambert, came from Allen’s Royal English Opera Company, having declined to follow that company on its tour of India. Others, like baritone soloist Albert Richardson, had been working for Lyster in Australia. The leading tenor, Carmini Morley, was completely unknown in New Zealand, but had apparently worked with Fanny and Martin in America. His colleague, Charles Florence, was making his operatic debut. Since creating a unified ensemble from such disparate elements was bound to take time, the first few days were spent in rehearsal. On Saturday 11 March 1876, the Company opened an advertised twenty-four night season in Dunedin with a production of The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein at the Queen’s Theatre.

The omens for success were not altogether propitious. Although Fanny Simonsen had created the role of the Grand Duchess at the work’s Australian premiere, it was not her best part. Carmini Morley, an Italian-style tenore robusto, was even less suited to play Fritz, the hero. He was also suffering from a dreadful cold. The opera was decidedly under-rehearsed. Moreover, in a clash typical of New Zealand’s congested entertainment calendar, the Simonsens’ first night coincided with that of ‘Blondin, the hero of Niagara’ who offered patrons the thrill of witnessing his famous rope walk across the Niagara Falls, re-created in a giant canvas arena off the St Kilda Road. Fortunately there was a sizeable and tolerant audience at the Queen’s Theatre. They found much to enjoy. Making the usual allowance for a first night appearance, and the fact that on Saturday the whole of the troupe appeared together in public for the first time, the performance was most satisfactory to the audience’, commented the Otago Witness reviewer. He also noted that ‘the costumes, properties, &c., are superior to anything we have seen here before’.

The introduction of the Company’s Italian repertoire, with its heavy reliance on the leading soprano and tenor, brought excellent reviews and well filled houses. The orchestra came in for particular praise: It is seldom, in the Colonies, that orchestral music is heard to so great advantage. The precision, expression and taste with which the accompaniments are played give

confidence to and support the singers, and when it falls to the lot of one of the instrumentalists to take a leading part he is fully equal to sustain it creditably. 9

Vocally, problems persisted in the lighter operas which, because they relied heavily on precise timing, required much more rehearsal. Morley’s cold spread itself round the rest of the company. The oboist, James Schott, stood in twice when Martin was too ill to conduct, but Fanny was indispensible. She took the stage regardless, although on one evening she was so hoarse she could barely sing. As anticipated, Dunedin went Blondin-mad. The management of the Tepid Swimming Baths in Moray Place increased turnover by offering enthusiasts tightrope-walking practice over water. But despite prices for the opera (7s 6d, 5s and 2s 6d) being higher than those for other forms of entertainment, the town proved big enough to accommodate both attractions. When audiences at the Queen’s Theatre showed signs of waning, Martin introduced new works first La Fille de Madame Angot, which received its New Zealand premiere on 27 March, and then The Hermit’s Bell, premiered on 7 April. Both were highly acclaimed. The planned twenty-four nights were extended to twenty-six. On the last, in a characteristically generous gesture, the Company gave a concert in aid of the Jewish Philanthropic Society of Otago.

By the end of the Dunedin season the Simonsens had cause to be pleased with the success of their venture. Ten operas had been introduced. Six more remained available to spark public interest during the projected return visit to Dunedin at the end of the tour. Audience figures had held up well. Critics, while noting some deficiencies in preparation and performance, seemed willing to accept that the Company should hone its repertoire by a process which amounted to public rehearsal. It was the imminent arrival of direct competition, in the form of a concert-party led by the internationally famed prima donna lima di Murska, which dictated the need to move on. On 12 April the Simonsens opened at the Theatre Royal, Christchurch, with a performance of Lucia di Lammermoor. It was sung in Italian. This pleased the Star reviewer, who felt that ‘no English translation can do justice to the music’. He gave the Company a very favourable review, reserving his highest praise for Fanny Simonsen’s portrayal of the title role:

The music of Lucia enabled Madame Simonsen to show her rich full powerful voice to great advantage. Her voice is not her only qualification. She is a finished artistic singer, equally at home in passages requiring sustained power as in those which demand brilliant execution. She has a clear articulation and evenness of tone; her phrasing is just, and she is a mistress of dramatic expression. In addition, she knows how to act.

The opening night audience was moved to great enthusiasm, frequently

interrupting the singing with bursts of applause which the same reviewer criticised as ‘very annoying both to the singers and to those who wish to hear’. 10 Very early in the Christchurch season a sharp dichotomy of critical opinion emerged. The Lyttleton Times and the Star— both of which were under the same ownership reflected an appreciation of the Company’s efforts similar to that which had characterised Dunedin reviews. By contrast, the related Press and Globe adopted a carping tone. Matters reached a head with the first New Zealand performance of Offenbach’s La Perichole on 15 May. This contains a lively scene in which the Viceroy of Peru plies Perichole with malaga, in order to get her drunk enough to agree to his plans for a marriage of convenience. Next day the Lyttleton Times found it ‘very amusing. The audience roared with laughter and insisted on the repetition of the whole scene’. The Press , however, considered the depiction of drunkenness on stage as ‘debasing high art [and] exceedingly derogatory to the position of an artiste’, while the Globe went further, calling the entire work ‘a wretched abortion’. 11

The following evening Fanny Simonsen made an unscheduled speech from the stage. ‘I don’t think it is derogatory to the position of an artiste to sing any song of the author’s as long as it is in accordance with the character, and as long as the artiste can do it pretty well’, she told the audience. In response to the work’s dismissal as ‘a wretched abortion’ she enumerated its spectacular successes in Europe. She also accused one of the Press journalists of conducting a personal vendetta against the Company. 12 The truth of the matter is difficult to establish. Martin Simonsen certainly did evict a member of the Press staff, John C. Utting, from at least one of the Dunedin performances. Given Martin’s reputation for excitability, he is unlikely to have done so tactfully. Despite Utting’s denial of the vendetta charge, in a letter to the editor of the Lyttleton Times of 18 May, there is a distincdy malicious undertone to some of the Press and Globe reviews. The Perichole affair was widely reported throughout the country. Subsequently, critics in other centres quite failed to find anything offensive in the work, but it was too late. The doubts sown in Christchurch led to its being performed only nine times during the tour.

In Christchurch, newspaper factionalism, and the competing attractions of Blondin and an excellent dramatic company, had adversely affected attendances. The situation was very different in Wellington. Subscription tickets for a twenty-four night season (Dress Circle at £7.75) sold rapidly, their purchase encouraged by favourable advance publicity. Wellington prided itself on being a ‘show town’, always receptive to quality entertainment of every kind. The opera chosen for the opening performance on 23 May was again Lucia di Lammermoor. It was given under the patronage of the Premier and Lady Vogel ‘to a capital house, the Theatre Royal being filled in every part’. 13

Lucia was succeeded by Martha, La Sonnambula and the Grand Duchess all presented to full houses with great critical acclaim. An old favourite, Faust, and Auber’s little known Carlo Broschi, were added to the tour repertoire. The latter was another work for which Martin claimed the Australasian rights. It received its first New Zealand performance on 29 June and the breeches title-role gave Fanny Simonsen another chance to display her versatility. Although forty-one years of age, and already the mother of ten children, she played the part of a lively youth to the great satisfaction of audiences and critics. Throughout the tour, the Company encountered situations where critical approval failed to generate high attendances. The Wellington

season, however, was extended well beyond its initial twenty-four nights because audience figures remained so high, even for operas which had already received several performances. ‘We have never before had a company in Wellington who in every respect could claim greater consideration from an admiring public than this company’, declared the New Zealand Mail towards the end of the season. 14 The Simonsens repaid Wellington’s patronage by a generous involvement in local events. These ranged from a charity concert in aid of three young men savagely attacked by a workmate, to the provision of music for the annual Wellington Club ball. Newspapers allotted plenty of space to the Company’s doings, and so preserved details of a number of incidents which occurred during its Wellington visit.

Some were comic. These included the complete collapse of an orchestral chair during a performance of The Hermit’s Bell. The occupant, and two colleagues whom he knocked over as he fell, ended up on the floor—sending both cast and audience into convulsions of laughter and holding up the opera for several minutes. Some were indicative of the times. lima di Murska and her concert party arrived in the capital towards the end of the opera season. No theatre was available. Such clashes happened all too frequently in New Zealand, and her manager’s strategems to oust the Simonsen Company from the Theatre Royal met with disapproval from the Wellington press, who pointed out that di Murska would find Wellington worth her while, so long as she remained patient and played by the rules. The diva departed on an unscheduled trip to Nelson, where she presented several concerts while waiting for the Simonsen opera season to end.

The Company was joined in Wellington by Michael Raphael, an experienced advance agent who had previously toured New Zealand with Allen’s Royal English Opera Company. His first success was the selling of a twelve-night season to a group of Napier speculators for £llOO, plus all expenses paid. It was an excellent financial arrangement and the entire Napier visit proved a happy experience, with good houses, appreciative notices and no sign of competing attractions. Special trains were laid on between Hastings and Napier to cater for opera patrons. Dinwiddie, Morrison & Co., in Tennyson Street, advertised vocal scores of the operas for sale, while other shops did a brisk trade in ladies’ gloves and other requisite items of finery.

After the initial twelve-night season finished, the Simonsens mounted a further season of eight nights under their own auspices. During this period they introduced Auber’s Masaniello into their repertoire for the first time. A grand opera, based on historical events in Naples in 1647 when fishermen staged an uprising against their Spanish oppressors, it was a difficult work which later observers thought a little heavy for the Company’s resources. The Hawkes Bay Herald observed few hitches in the presentation, although ‘at times the cornets were outrageously

loud’. 15 The scenic backdrops included a spectacular rendition of Vesuvius in eruption which was very favourably received. The Napier visit was not without its excitements. On 19 July the town experienced a sharp earthquake. On the day of departure, several of the Company nearly missed their boat, which was forced to wait in the bay until they could be brought out by launch.

The Simonsens had planned to spend a few more days in Wellington following their return from Napier. In the interim, however, lima di Murska and her concert party had taken up a lease on the only hall suitable for operatic productions. Negotiations aimed at amalgamating the two ensembles for a gala season came to nothing —much to the regret of the Wellington public. Since the energetic Michael Raphael had sold the Company’s services to a syndicate of Taranaki businessmen for a short period commencing on or about 8 August, this left several days to fill. These were spent in Nelson. It was an obvious venue from the logistical point of view, since it was a major port on the new steamer route which ran from Dunedin, via Lyttleton, Wellington, Picton, Nelson, and Taranaki (New Plymouth) to Onehunga. 16 Unfortunately, the town was not renowned for its support of quality entertainment. Di Murska’s recent visit had been a failure and the Simonsen Company encountered a similarly cold reception. One local paper feared such apathy ‘will go far towards keeping away from us all the real artistes, and that Nelson will in future be abandoned to jugglers and mountebanks’. 17

By contrast, New Plymouth greeted the Opera Company with real warmth. It was a town which often felt itself cut off from the rest of the country. The Taranaki Wars had hindered settlement, as had a lack of wharf facilities. New Plymouth was still a roadstead port, with all goods and passengers coming ashore by surf boat. The difficulties of landing such a large company, with all its props, scenery and instruments, must have been tremendous, and the Simonsens’ dedication in fulfilling their commitment to the town, despite a rough passage from Nelson, was much appreciated. An opera company had never appeared in New Plymouth before, so the opening night became an important social event. Inclement weather notwithstanding, the hall was crowded, with the ladies decked out in their best evening dresses for the occasion. The Taranaki Herald devoted two entire columns to the event, which it pronounced ‘a perfect success’. 18 The advertised season was of four nights but, owing to the late arrival of the connecting steamer, an extra performance was squeezed in on Saturday 12 August. It consisted of a ‘Grand Vocal and Instrumental Concert’ followed by a complete presentation of Bellini’s opera Norma. Straight after the performance the members of the Company were rowed out to the S.S. Hawea, where they joined a cargo of sheep, pigs and mixed goods for the journey to Auckland.

The opening performance in Auckland marked the high point of the tour. On 14 August 1876 the Simonsen Royal English, Italian and Opera-Bouffe Company inaugurated the town’s new Theatre Royal in a great blaze of publicity and before a densely packed fashionable audience. The theatre, owned by Messrs Barnett and Levy, was set above elegant shops which fronted onto Victoria and Queen Streets. It was lit by gas jets and had been designed for audience comfort, with cloakrooms, adequate ventilation, and matting on the floor to muffle the footsteps of latecomers. Work on the theatre had dragged on for nine months —three more than expected. Michael Raphael made a special trip to Auckland to urge the project to completion, in order that the Simonsen Company could have the honour of giving the first performance.

A poetry competition had been held to choose an inauguration ode. On opening night, after the full company had performed the National Anthem, Fanny Simonsen came forward ‘bearing in her hand the prize address printed in satin. This she read, in clear and distinct tones . . ,’. 19 It was a lengthy effusion, later criticised as hardly worthy of such an important event, but Fanny did her best with it, and the author, John Blackman, was rewarded with a curtain call. There was an even greater cheer for Mr and Mrs John L. Hall, popular thespians whose dramatic company had not arrived in time to gain the honour of inaugurating the new theatre. The Halls, who were on excellent terms with Fanny and Martin, took this disappoinment in good part. They booked the theatre for a period after the end of the Simonsens’ projected season, and meanwhile departed to try their luck in Thames.

To judge from the appreciative reviews following the opening night performance of Lucia de Lammermoor, the Simonsens’ Auckland season should have been a tremendous success. Instead it was a financial disaster. Naturally there were a few high points. A performance of La Sonnambula under the patronage of the Christchurch and Auckland Football Clubs, was excellently attended. Works new to the public usually drew the curious, but interest seldom extended to subsequent performances. ‘lt is inconceivable why a comfortable building and a first rate entertainment cannot fill a house when performances that cannot be compared to the Simonsen company are so much better patronised’, complained one critic. ‘Those who will not go to hear the music given by the company are almost as much to be pitied as blamed’. 20

Auckland, it seemed, liked its entertainment undemanding and cheap. Under increasing financial pressure, Martin’s volatile temperament cracked. There was an unseemly incident in the theatre, during which he assaulted his advance agent, Michael Raphael. When joining the Company, Raphael had negotiated the right to print an

‘En’tracte’ (a leaflet advertising theatrical events) in each town. It was to be at his own expense, with any profits accruing to him rather than the Company. Martin now demanded half these profits to shore up his precarious finances. Raphael refused and Martin attacked him with a cudgel before the horrified eyes of his artists. Poor Fanny had to come between the two men, and the affair ended in court. The musicians called to give evidence did their best to mitigate the situation. Cornettist, Nathan Hallas, deposed that ‘Mr. Simonsen was very excitable, but not a bad sort at all’, while bass, John Barrington, testified that ‘the worst of Mr. Simonsen was that he got into a temper without any justifiable cause’. 21 With so many witnesses, the verdict could not help but go against Martin. He was bound over to keep the peace for three months, and fined the costs of the case.

In desperation, the Simonsens lowered their prices to a level which, though generating better audiences, probably did little to ameliorate their financial losses. They also shed some artists whether by mutual agreement or by dismissal is not recorded. The Leopold Family joined Mr and Mrs Hall in Thames. Albert Richardson stayed long enough to sing the Count in Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro on 13 September, before leaving the Company. His departure effectively took both this opera and II Trovatore out of the repertoire. Raphael’s engagement was terminated, but he was reinstated almost immediately. His services were too valuable to lose.

The Company’s lease on the Theatre Royal expired on Saturday 16 September. The occasion was marked by a concert and performance of Montana given for Martin Simonsen’s benefit. Ironically, this brought the best house of the season. The Daily Southern Cross reviewer considered that ‘it must have given some satisfaction to the benejiciare to notice that his efforts to please the public had not been unappreciated, although the recognition had come somewhat tardily’. 22 The next few days were spent in the bustling gold town of Thames where a selection from the Company’s lighter repertoire proved a great success. There was a brief return visit to Auckland this time to the Prince of Wales Theatre, since the John L. Hall Company was now in residence at the Theatre Royal —before the Simonsens departed south on the S.S. Taupo.

The Company’s expressed intention had been to hold return seasons in Napier and Wellington. There is no record of why Napier was not revisited, but in Wellington —yet again —there were no theatres available. The Wellington papers deplored the lack of venues and regretted that the capital would not now see works like Masaniello and Figaro. The financial consequences for the Simonsens were more serious. Wellington’s season had been the longest of the tour, and an unqualified success. A similar success was badly needed to counteract the disappointments of Auckland. Now, however, there was no option but to fall back upon a return visit to Nelson. It proved no more lucrative

than the first. The Company then proceeded to Lyttelton, where a popular concert in the Colonists’ Hall was enthusiastically reported as ‘undoubtedly the greatest musical treat ever given to the people of Lyttelton’. 23

The programme is worth giving in full, since it is typical of those presented during the tour. The first section began with an orchestral overture (Rossini’s Otello , continued with a selection of popular ballads sung by the leading soloists, and concluded with the finale from the third act of Martha. An arrangement for brass quintet of the ‘Fra oco’ from Lucia di Lammermoor began the second part. A further selection of ballads, and a piano solo by the Company’s chorus master, C. B. Foster, then followed. The section concluded with a trio from Lucrezia Borgia , sung by Fanny Simonsen, Carmini Morley and John Barrington. The final part of the programme brought yet more ballads, before the piece de resistance violin solos by Martin Simonsen. His clever fantasias upon melodies dear to the hearts of an immigrant audience were always greeted with immense applause. The concert concluded with the ‘Goodnight Quartet’ from Martha.

By 10 October the Simonsens were re-established in Christchurch, at the Oddfellows’ Hall. Their programmes included a number of operas which they had not previously performed in the town amongst them Faust, Masaniello, and Carlo Broschi , which received its Christchurch premiere on 16 October. The newspapers were more in accord during this season, with the Press being particularly generous in its praise. No doubt the perfomances did show greater cohesion and professional polish than earlier in the tour. However, despite lower prices, attendances were patchy. Benefit nights and new operas received good houses, but for repeat performances the audience was often sparse. It was the same story when the Company moved to Dunedin on 23 October. ‘We think Mr Simonsen has much reason to complain of the miserable patronage extended to him during the season just ended’, commented the Otago Daily Times. ‘The majority of operas produced were very creditably performed, and deserved far larger audiences.’ 24 Since Dunedin had just experienced a return visit from lima di Murska, and had Mr Dampier, billed as ‘the young and popular Tragedian’ in residence at the Princess Theatre, while Mr Clifford’s Mirror of the World (an illustrated travelogue) vied for attention at the Temperance Hall, it is more probable that there was simply not a big enough potential audience to sustain the number of attractions on offer.

Throughout the tour, Fanny and Martin had been accompanied by their oldest daughter, Leonora. Although not listed as appearing on stage, she could have helped out in many other ways. The children of theatrical families were usually trained to follow their parents’ profession. In Christchurch, on 18 October 1876, Leonora married David Davis, son of Hyam Davis, a wealthy local merchant. She was

sixteen, he was twenty-four. How they met is not recorded, but he had been living in Melbourne and was a talented amateur violinist. It is probable that he had known the Simonsens for some time, and that the wedding was planned well in advance rather than the result of a whirlwind courtship. The service was a considerable social event, which was reported at length in the Lyttelton Times the following day. The bride and bridegroom emerged from the Jewish Synagogue to the cheers of a large crowd and the strains of Mendelssohn’s ‘Wedding March’ played by the Opera Company orchestra stationed outside. While Leonora began her new life as the wife of a Christchurch businessman, her parents continued with their operatic journey through New Zealand. 25

The Simonsen Company’s 1876 tour came to an end with a short and pleasantly successful season in Invercargill. On the penultimate night there was a gala performance of Faust , under the patronage of the Southland military. All the officers and volunteers appeared in uniform and in Act IV, following a time-honoured tradition, the Band of the Artillery appeared on stage to assist in performing the ‘Soldier’s Chorus’. On the last night, a double bill of La Sonnambula and the first act of The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein was presented. The following morning, Thursday 16 November, the members of the Simonsen Royal English, Italian and Opera-Bouffe Company were farewelled by a bevy of local admirers as they boarded the Invercargill to Bluff train, en route for the steamer Alhambra which would take them home to Melbourne.

They had been in New Zealand a total of 256 days, 202 of which had been spent performing. Of the remaining fifty-four, five had been occupied with rehearsals at the beginning of the tour, thirty-six Sundays provided the artists with their only regular opportunity for relaxation, and just thirteen (plus three of the Sundays) had been spent entirely in travelling. In economic terms, these were wasted days. The inadvisability of too much unproductive time was a lesson the Simonsens took to heart. Sunday ‘Sacred Concerts’ were to become a feature of their subsequent New Zealand visits.

Frequent changes of location, difficult travelling conditions, and constandy altering programmes were the arduous realities of performing life. All touring companies, whatever their genre, prized works that would ‘run’ —that is, would be sufficiently popular to draw good houses when played for many nights in succession. A ‘run’ meant the chance of staying an extended time in one place, thus saving travel costs. It also meant that the performers could relax during the day, instead of spending their time striking and setting up scenery and endlessly rehearsing. New Zealand’s population militated against such a luxury. Although the Simonsens’ repertoire contained a number of popular works, their longest run was a succession of six performances of La

Fille de Madame Angot, achieved at the work’s initial introduction in Dunedin, Christchurch and Wellington. A different opera every night was a far more usual circumstance. By contemporary standards, the 1876 tour was not a long one. W. S. Lyster’s first Australasian company was on the move almost continuously between the end of March 1861 and August 1868, amassing a total of 1497 performing days. But the Lyster company frequently circled back to its home base of Melbourne, occasionally ceasing activity for a month or two at a time. Some of its Melbourne and Sydney seasons were of considerable duration, and its visit to New Zealand, between 27 August 1864 and 18 February 1865 embraced only the four main centres of Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland. 26 Although subsequent opera companies included smaller towns in their itineraries, none had been as large, or as ambitious in intent as the Simonsens.

The very size of the 1876 Company militated against its commercial viability. It was simply too big to make a profit from theatres of the size encountered in many of its venues —even if the houses had always been full. And there was no centre in New Zealand populous enough to allow the Company to settle in for a lucrative two or three months. Even Lyster sometimes failed to make opera pay in Sydney and Melbourne. Martin Simonsen was no Lyster. Like many of those on the touring circuit, he was a performer first and an entrepreneur second. In his enthusiasm to take command of his own opera company, he may not even have thought about the correlation between ensemble size, travelling costs, and box-office potential.

If the Simonsen Company was not a commercial success, at least it was an artistic one. Certainly there were ragged performances and ‘off nights during the tour, all duly noted by reviewers, but the attitude conveyed by contemporary newspaper reports is overwhelmingly one of appreciation. While it is impossible to know the standards against which the critics and audiences of the day passed judgement, clues within the published reviews suggest that critics on most of the leading papers were musically well-informed, and had a good working knowledge of opera. The discussion in Wellington’s Evening Post of Carmini Morley’s introduction of high C sung as a chest note, after the manner of the French tenor Duprez, is a typical instance of informed technical observation. 27 Growing up across the Tasman was ‘an audience of the Australian-born without its migrant parents’ first-hand knowledge of overseas theatrical traditions’. 28 In the New Zealand of 1876, this was not yet a significant development. On the whole, the Company’s work seems to have been judged by reasonably exacting standards. The number of column inches devoted to its performances, as compared with all the other forms of entertainment on offer, was an indication of the importance it was accorded.

Although many of the works performed by the Simonsens are unfamiliar to a modern opera-goer, this is not a reflection on the quality of their repertoire but a result of changing musical fashions. We have lost the popular nineteenth-century tradition of the opera-comique, with its ‘juxtaposition of the spoken and sung kept delicately in balance by artists as skilled with words as they were with notes’. 29 The bel canto repertoire of Bellini and Donizetti, with which Fanny Simonsen so impressed the New Zealand public, has only been restored to favour in recent years (largely through the artistry of Joan Sutherland), after suffering many decades of neglect. The music of Daniel Auber is currently in complete eclipse, yet Auber dominated nineteenth-century opera houses in a manner scarcely equalled by any other French composer. His La Muette de Portici (performed in English by the Simonsens under the tide Masaniello ) is a work of high musical invention, much admired by Wagner. Regarded as the first great example of French grand opera, it represents a genre which has, at best, a tenuous hold in the modern opera house. In 1876 terms, the Simonsens offered their public within practical limits —a cross section of the favoured operatic genres of the day. And on the whole, apart from La Perichole’s adverse reception by certain factions in Christchurch, the quality of their repertoire met with general approval.

The leading artists were also well received. When the New Zealand Mail declared Carmini Morley to be ‘the best tenor that has ever visited Wellington’ it duplicated a sentiment expressed in other centres. 30 Morley’s finest gifts were displayed in the Italian repertoire. Even in hard-to-please Christchurch, his Manrico in II Trovatore was listened to ‘with breathless excitement throughout’. The Evening Post critic described him as having a ‘rich, robust tenor voice of remarkable power and sweetness, which he uses like a thorough artist’. 32 Morley was equally pleased with New Zealand. He became the first of a number of Simonsen artists to setde and pursue a teaching career in this country.

Charles Florence also won good notices for his sweet-toned singing. Although he was a complete novice at the start of the tour, the Dunedin Evening Star considered that ‘if he will only be at pains to acquire a knowledge of stage business and action, he is certain to command for himself a splendid position on the lyric stage’. 33 He proved a quick learner, winning increasing acclaim for his performances as Don Caesar de Bazan in Montana and Thaddeus in The Bohemian Girl. Unfortunately a fondness for drink, the probable cause of one or two erratic performances during the 1876 tour, stopped him ever achieving the predicted ‘splendid position’. The leading contralto, Nelly Lambert, was already well known to New Zealand audiences, who regarded her as an old friend. It is significant that many reviewers pointed out a great improvement in her acting and singing while with the Simonsens. Albert Richardson received a more mixed reaction. There were frequent

references to his poor intonation and hints that he did not try hard enough. His greatest success was as the Count di Luna in II Trovatore. When he left the Company, that opera was taken out of the repertoire. His other roles were inherited by John Barrington and Henry Hodgson, both described as ‘careful’ singers. As the Daily Southern Cross remarked, ‘it is generally admitted that the great want in the company is a bass’. 34

The lynchpin of the 1876 company was Fanny Simonsen. Alone of the soloists, she took the stage on every one of the 202 performance nights. Her versatility was as extraordinary as her stamina. The Otago Daily Times view that ‘we seldom, if ever, saw an artiste capable of filling so creditably such an extensive range of operatic characters’ typified critical reaction to her abilities. 35 During the tour she was called upon to play sixteen different leading roles, ranging from the distraught, hallucinating Lucy Ashton in Lucia di Lammermoor, to the rustic Rose Moineau of The Hermit’s Bell. She received excellent reviews in every venue, and for every role. Never once was she criticised for giving a less than whole-hearted performance. The Southland Times accurately reflected the attitude of the New Zealand press when it declared that ‘Madame Simonsen shines in whatever she attempts’.

In addition to her considerable musical and dramatic abilities, Fanny Simonsen was both diplomatic and resourceful. It was she who smoothed the ruffled feathers caused by her husband’s irascible temper. When the chandelier at Auckland’s new Theatre Royal caught fire during a performance fire was a perpetual hazard in theatres lit by naked gas jets she organised its extinguishing so calmly that many of the audience remained unaware of the incident. During the tour she presided over the opening of a new theatre and married off her oldest daughter. She also won a host of friends ‘by her unaffected cordiality with all who have had the pleasure of her acquaintance’. 37 Auckland called her ‘the Queen of Song’ and showered her with bouquets at a benefit concert in her honour. Wellington admirers raised money to present her with a set of diamond jewellery. She charmed all who came into contact with her.

The 1876 Simonsen Company was, however, far more than a few talented individuals. Its high overall standard of performance particularly impressed commentators. Reviewing a performance of Norma, the Otago Daily Times noted that ‘the chorus, band, and principals work well together, and there is a general smoothness throughout the entire performance which betrays a perfect understanding among all engaged’. 38 According to the Evening Star critic, attending the premiere of La Fille de Madame Angot in Dunedin, ‘the whole opera was well put on the stage; the scenery, effects, and dresses were very fine, and reflect great credit on the management’. 39 Favourable remarks about the orchestral playing abound. By New Zealand standards it was, to quote the New Zealand Mail, ‘of remarkable power and completeness’. 4 Mr

Simonsen has kept faith with his patrons in a most liberal spirit’ was the verdict of the Daily Southern Cross. 41 Fanny and Martin Simonsen were undoubtedly foolhardy to believe they could make money by presenting opera, in so lavish a fashion and with such a large company, in a sparsely populated country already generously supplied with alternative forms of entertainment. But there is equally no doubt that their efforts to please were widely appreciated. Contemporary newspapers confirm the view that the 1876 Simonsen

Company presented opera to a standard never previously attained in the Dominion. Fanny’s winning personality and accomplished singing paid dividends in public goodwill. There was respect, too, for Martin’s expertise as a violinist and for his dedication to providing quality and value, regardless of the financial risk to himself. When the couple returned to New Zealand four years later, bringing another and even stronger opera company, they were greeted with enthusiasm and genuine affection.

APPENDIX I THE 1876 COMPANY SEASONS AND REPERTOIRE

This chronological survey of the 1876 Simonsen tour gives details of the time the Company spent in each town, together with a statistical breakdown of the works performed. Dating commences, in all cases, from the Company’s arrival rather than from the first known performance of the season. In fact, the two dates were frequently the same. It was the Simonsens’ normal practice to arrive on a morning whenever possible, set up during the day, and give their first performance that same evening. The last date given is that of the Company’s departure from a town, rather than the date of its last performance. The figure in brackets after each set of dates represents the number of nights on which performances were actually given. Discrepancies between these figures and the number of items listed in the statistical breakdown can be accounted for by the Simonsens’ habit of including a short concert, or single act of another opera, as an additional attraction to the scheduled work —especially towards the end of a season. Very occasionally, particularly on nights when reduced prices were in operation, no complete opera was given. The programme would then be made up of acts from three or four different operas, perhaps combined with a vocal and instrumental concert. In the statistical breakdown, works are presented in alphabetical order using the title most commonly found in the Company’s advertisements. These sometimes differ from those current today: for instance Auber’s La Muette de Portici appears as Masaniello and his La Part du Diable as Carlo Broschi. The name of each work is followed by the number of performances it received during that particular season. Where a figure is given for ballets this refers to separate works staged by the Leopold family as additions to the main programme, and not to dance sequences within operas.

DUNEDIN 6.3.1876-11.4.1876 (26) Bohemian Girl (1), Fille de Madame Angot (7), Grand Duchess of Gerolstein (2), Hermit’s Bell (2), Lucia di Lammermoor (3), Lucrezia Borgia (2), Maritana (3), Martha (2), Sonnambula (1) Trovatore (2). Non-operatic: Stabat Mater Rossini (1), Ballet (4), Concert (2). CHRISTCHURCH 12.4.1876-22.5.1876 (34) Bohemian Girl (1), Fille de Madame Angot (7), Grand Duchess of Gerolstein (2), Hermit’s Bell (5), Lucia di Lammermoor (2), Lucrezia Borgia (2), Maritana (2), Martha (3), Norma (2) Perichole (3), Sonnambula (1), Trovatore (2). Part performances: Hermit’s Bell Act 1(1), Grand Duchess Act 1(1), Lucia di Lammermoor Act 111 (1), Maritana Act 111 (1). Non-operatic: Stabat Mater— Rossini (1), Concert (3).

WELLINGTON 23.5.1876-5.7.1876 (37) Bohemian Girl (1), Carlo Broschi (2), Faust (4), Fille de Madame Angot (6), Grand Duchess (2), Hermit’s Bell (5), Lucia di Lammermoor (2), Lucrezia Borgia (2), Maritana (2), Martha (2), Norma (2), Perichole (2), Sonnambula (2), Trovatore (2). Part performances: Maritana Act 111 (1), Martha Act II (1), Norma Act 111 (1). Non-operatic: Ballet (2), Concert (3).

NAPIER 6.7.1876-29.7.1876 (20) Bohemian Girl (1), Carlo Broschi (1), Faust (1), Fille de Madame Angot (3), Grand Duchess of Gerolstein (1), Hermit’s Bell (2), Lucia di Lammermoor (1), Lucrezia Borgia (1), Maritana (1), Martha(l), Masaniello (1), Norma (1), Perichole (1), Sonnambula (1), Trovatore (1). Part performances: Fille de Madame Angot Act 111 (1), Lucia di Lammermoor Act 111 (1), Maritana Act 111 (1), Masaniello Act V (1). Non-operatic: Ballet (1), Concert (2). NELSON 1.8.1876-7.8.1876 (5) Fille de Madame Angot (1), Lucrezia Borgia (1), Martha (1), Norma (1). Non-operatic: Concert (1). NEW PLYMOUTH 8.8.1876-12.8.1876 (5) Fille de Madame Angot (1), Maritana (1), Martha (1), Norma (1), Trovatore (1). Non-operatic: Concert (1).

AUCKLAND 14.8.1876-17.9.1876 (30) Bohemian Girl (1), Carlo Broschi (2), Faust (2), Fille de Madame Angot (5), Grand Duchess of Gerolstein (1), Hermit’s Bell (4), Lucia di Lammermoor (1), Lucrezia Borgia (1), Maritana (2), Marriage of Figaro (1), Martha (2), Masaniello (2), Norma (1), Perichole (2), Sonnambula (2), Trovatore (1). Part performance: Bohemian Girl Act IV (1). Non-operatic: Concert (3). THAMES 18.9.1876-24.9.1876 (6) Bohemian Girl (1), Fille de Madame Angot (1), Grand Duchess of Gerolstein (1), Hermit’s Bell (1), Maritana (1), Martha (1). Part performance: Masaniello Act V (1). Non-operatic: Concert (1).

AUCKLAND 25.9.1876-28.9.1876 (3) Grand Duchess of Gerolstein (1), Norma (1). Part performances: Fille de Madame Angot Act 111 (1), Lucrezia Borgia Act II (1), Maritana Act HI (1), Trovatore Act IV (1). Non-operatic: Concert (1). NELSON 30.9.1876-5.10.1876 (4) Hermit’s Bell (1), Maritana (1), Masaniello (1), Perichole (1).

LYTTELTON 7.10.1876-8.10.1876 Non-operatic: Concert (1) CHRISTCHURCH 9.10.1876-24.10.1876 (13) Bohemian Girl (1), Carlo Broschi (1), Faust (1), Fille de Madame Angot (2), Grand Duchess of Gerolstein (1), Hermit’s Bell (1), Lucrezia Borgia (1), Maritana (1), Masaniello (1), Norma (1). Part performances: Bohemian Girl Act IV (1), Martha Act II (1), Trovatore Act IV (1). Non-operatic: Concert (5).

DUNEDIN 25.10.1876-6.11.1876 (10) Carlo Broschi (1), Faust (1), Fille de Madame Angot (2), Hermit’s Bell (1), Lucrezia Borgia (1), Maritana (1), Martha (1), Masaniello (1), Norma (1). Non-operatic: Concert (1). INVERCARGILL 7.11.1876-16.11.1876 (8) Bohemian Girl (1), Faust (1), Fille de Madame Angot (1), Hermit’s Bell (1), Maritana (1), Martha (1), Norma (1), Sonnambula (1). Part performances: Fille de Madame Angot Act 111 (1), Grand Duchess ofGerolstein Act I (1). Non-operatic: Concert (2).

APPENDIX II THE 1876 COMPANY PERSONNEL The following list has been collated from newspaper advertisements and surviving programmes. It represents, so far as can be ascertained, the Simonsen Company at its largest. In Auckland the Leopold family and Albert Richardson are documented as leaving the Company. Christian Tomholt’s name also disappears from advertisements and reviews, so it is reasonable to assume he left at the same time. M. L. Raphael did not join the Company until Wellington. The second violinist, Mr Isherwood, is not mentioned prior to the Auckland season, although this does not necessarily prove he was not present throughout. It is possible, however, that he replaced the oboist, James Schott, whose name appears only during the earlier part of the tour. A few other names appear in advertisenients, usually just for one performance. This suggests they were local performers brought in to fill supernumerary roles, and they have not been included below. Names, and company designations, are given exactly as they most commonly appear. No attempt has been made to correct the rather picturesque Italian found in programmes and advertisements throughout the tour.

SOLOISTS Prima Donna Soprano Madame Fanny Simonsen Secondo Donna Soprano Miss Minna Fisher Prima Donna Contralto Miss E. A. Lambert Seconde Donne Miss Blanche Harris and Miss Emilier Beaumont Prima Tenore Signor Carmini Morley Tenor Mr Charles Florence Secondo Tenore Mr Henry Steinbach and Mr T. Ewart Prima Baritone Mr Albert Richardson and Mr Henry Hodgson Prima Bassi Mr John Barrington, Mr B. Levison and Mr Christian Tomholt Buffo Tenore e Basso Mr L. Markham and Mr F. Darbyshire CHORUS Miss E. Beaumont,* Mrs H. Benham, Misses Mary Brennan, Clara Lamaroux, Louise Norris, Blanche Osborn, Kate Osborn, May Somers. Messrs Henry Benham, Louis Benham, George Cowes, Charles Daniels, W. Langley, S. Myers, Albert Nordbloom, Henry Webster. * appears to be a different singer from Emilier Beaumont listed under Seconde Donne DANCERS Ballet Master Mr Henry Leopold Premier Danseuse Fraulein Fanny Leopold

Second Danseuse Miss Blanche Leopold Juvenile Master A. Leopold Comic Mr S. Darbyshire Corps de Ballet Misses Louise Aitcheson, Florence Ashley, Kate Ashley, Emilie Kaye, Maude Paul, L. Stewart ORCHESTRA First Violins Martin Simonsen and T. Thompson (leader) Second Violins Carl Richty and Mr Isherwood Cello S. Bernard Double Bass J. Richardson Flute • W. Stoneham Oboe Herr Schott Clarinet H. Warnecke First Cornet N. Hallas Second Cornet W. Stoneham, Jun. Trombone Mr Weber Drums J. Henry Piano and Chorus Master C. B. Foster Conductor Martin Simonsen SUPPORT STAFF Mechanist Mr J. P. Thomas Costumier Mrs Thomas Advance Agent Mr M. L. Raphael Business Manager Mr W. T. Keith Also travelling with the Company were Fanny and Martin Simonsen’s oldest daughter, Leonora, and the Thomas’s daughter, Laetitia. They may well have been the unnamed ‘assistants’ to Mrs Thomas. Laetitia also played the child Arline in Act I of The Bohemian Girl.

REFERENCES The material for this article has been derived mainly from contemporary newspapers, particularly the following which are all held in the Alexander Turnbull Library’s newspaper collection: Southland Times, Evening Star (Dunedin), Otago Daily Times, Otago Witness, Star (Christchurch), Lyttelton Times, Evening Post (Wellington), New Zealand Mail, Hawkes Bay Times, Taranaki Herald, Daily Southern Cross (Auckland), Thames Advertiser, Colonist (Nelson) and Nelson Evening Mail. 1 The Croatian Soprano, lima di Murska (1836-89), a leading international prima donna. 2 The first, Allen’s Royal English Opera Company, had actually left several months earlier, en route to India. 3 Otago Witness, 18 March 1876, p. 15. 4 Otago Daily Times, 26 October 1876, p. 2. 5 Otago Witness, 18 March 1876, p. 15. 6 Lyttelton Times, 31 December 1867, p. 2.

7 For biographical details about Fanny and Martin Simonsen see Adrienne Simpson, ‘On Tour with the Simonsens’, in Opera in New Zealand—Aspects of History and Performance (forthcoming). 8 Otago Witness, 18 March 1876, p. 15. 9 Evening Star, 15 March 1876, p. 2. 10 Christchurch Star, 13 April 1876, p. 3. 11 Quotes from the Lyttelton Times, 16 May 1876, p. 2; Press (Christchurch), same day, p. 2; and Globe (Christchurch), same day, p. 2. 12 The speech is reported in full in the Lyttelton Times, 17 May 1876, p. 2. 13 Evening Post, 25 May 1876, p. 2. 14 New Zealand Mail, 8 July 1876, p. 15. 15 Hawkes Bay Herald, 28 July 1876, p. 5. 16 The route was inaugurated on 22 June 1875, and was a major factor in dictating the itineraries of large touring companies for several decades. I am indebted to S. V. Lampard of the Wellington Maritime Museum for help with details of contemporary shipping services. 17 Nelson Evening Mail, 2 August 1876, p. 2. 18 Taranaki Herald, 9 August 1876, p. 2. 19 Daily Southern Cross, 15 August 1876, p. 2. 20 Daily Southern Cross, 28 August 1876, p. 5. 21 The case is extensively reported in the Daily Southern Cross, 24 August 1876, p. 3. 22 Daily Southern Cross, 18 September 1876, p. 2. 23 Press (Christchurch), 9 October 1876, p. 2. 24 Otago Daily Times, 6 November 1876, p. 3. 25 The marriage ended in divorce in 1880. The couple’s second child, Fanny Jane Davis (born 31 May 1879), was to gain international fame as a prima donna under the name Frances Alda.

26 See Harold Love, ‘W. S. Lyster’s 1861-68 Opera Company: Seasons and Repertoire’, Australasian Drama Studies, 11, no. 1 (October 1983), 113-25. For an outline of Lyster’s New Zealand visits see J. M. Thomson, ‘William Saurin Lyster and his Influence on New Zealand Opera’, in Opera in New Zealand— Aspects of History and Performance (forthcoming). 27 Evening Post, 4 July 1876, p. 2. 28 Harold Love, The Golden Age of Australian Opera (Sydney, 1981), p. 200. 29 Kenneth M. Stampp, Jr., ‘Reviving Daniel Auber’, Opera Quarterly, 1, no. 4, (1983), 87. 30 New Zealand Mail, 27 May 1876, p. 2. 31 Lyttelton Times, 21 April 1876, p. 2. 32 Evening Post, 25 May 1876, p. 2. 33 Evening Star, 16 March 1876, p. 2. 34 Daily Southern Cross, 26 August 1876, p. 5. 35 Otago Daily Times, 3 November 1876, p. 3. 36 Southland Times, 14 November 1876, p. 2. 37 Daily Southern Cross, 28 September 1876, p. 3. 38 Otago Daily Times, 26 October 1876, p. 2. 39 Evening Star, 28 March 1876, p. 2. 40 New Zealand Mail, 27 May 1876, p. 13. 41 Daily Southern Cross, 18 September 1876, p. 2.