A COMPARISON.

Evening Star, Issue 3095, 20 January 1873, Page 2

A COMPARISON.

To the Editor. Sir,—From what is presented in the Dunedin papers, I think our Caledonian Gather-; ing was, on the whole, superior to your Dunedin one. Proportionately to the population of the places, ours was decidedly the larger turn-out; it occupied two days, and ml the Ist 30p> people assembled, on the 2nd about 2000—not bad when'you cOftsid V eivr comparative smallness in population, and that there were excursion trains to the Bluff both days. The utmost order and propriety prevailed, not even a shade of drunkenness or rowdyism being visible on either day. In pip,- music there were 4 competitors —genuine Gaels, all in costume,'and good players. A fifth set of pipes was on the ground, in the hands of Mr Don. Cameron of Riverton, who also, along with several other non-competi-tors, was in Highland costume. This gentlemen kindly acted as a judge of music. He has made bagpipe music one of the special studies of his life, and is probably one of the best judges thereof in these Colonies’; he als") is a true Gael, hailing from Lcchaber, ofourso. Onr prizes for pipe music were higher than yours, but not high enough. Toe minimum prize for pibrochs ought to be LlO. ■ This branch of pipe music may, I think, be regarded as that to which the instrument is specially adapted. Many of your read* rs probably do not know that even among tolerably good players one in twenty cannot execute a pibroph creditably j noc that doss application to tfie.i-tudy of music, very frequent practice for a lengthened period are necessary to the accomplishment- The re®! dancing was a sight in itself worth coming a long way to see, performed splendidly an in true style as it was by handsome and stalwart Highlanders, in fall feather, same may'be .aid of -T (Ghillie Callom). Ike Uw u ”

donian Gathering is a favorite in Southland. Cn Crristmas we are a quiet stay-at-home people ; on Boxing Day we repair in crowds t > the railway station, en route to Bluff and Winton. But the first and second days of the New Year wc religiously devote to the athletic sports of Old England and (dale lonia. Before closing this hit of gossip, allow me to tell you that we of Invercargill, to whom the railway whistle has become so familiar, and who, for some years, have been accustomed to make twenty-mile excursions north and south in crowds of 600 to 1,000 at a time, at a speed of thirty to fifty miles an hour, feel rather amused when we read of the excitement caused in Dunedin by your toy Port Cha mers line. But if amused, we are at the same time much pleased with the demonstration, which the existence of that railway affords, of your good sense in having followed our lead. In railway matters, wo Southlanders “opened the ball.” One word more. An article in your neighbor, the Dally Time of the 11th inst., headed “ A couple of hours at Rhuapuke, and tailed “ Dummkopf,” referred to a certain young lady as speaking English with a German accent. . “ Dumnikoi f” is wrong. The mother of the lady in question is an Englishwoman, and both mot her and daughter speak pure English perfectly free from German accent, En pasmnt, may I mention that this writer omitted to notice the most interesting object on the island, viz., the ruins of the original mission-house, built nearly 30 years ago by Mr VVholers (then a bachelor) with hia own hands. He cut the timber, dragged it to position, and built the house almost quite unaided by the onlookiug Maoris. Bhuapnke, its associations, and Hebridean-like surroundings, forcibly reminds one of lona (as many know, an isle in the Hebrides Group, on the West of Scotland, famous because Sk Columba, hailing from Ireland, lauded there early in the Christian era, and there established a Christian mission station, which became celebrated). The I’ev. Mr VVliolers is our St. (Vutnba, Rhuapuke our lona.—l am, &c., Waihopai. Invercagiff, January 16.