CANTERBURY ANNIVERSARY.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume V, Issue 209, 4 January 1865, Page 3

CANTERBURY ANNIVERSARY.

(From the Canterbury Standard, Deo. 20.)

On Friday last was celebrated the fourteenth anniversary of the Province of Canterbury. Other anniversaries have passed away with comparatively little stir, but this was to be a day which all would remember. For weeks past it had been understood that the corner-stone of the long-talked of Cathedral w-mld belaid; that the Volunteers would hold a ground parade, andjhave ttit-ir colors presented to them ; and that certain old English and rural Sports would come off in Latimer Square. Friday morning dawned darkly and threatedingly, and forebodings of a .rainy day were soon turned into certainty.

The Usual display of flags and banners, known and unknown, (night be seen from a very early hour in the morning ; all the places of business were closed, and people moved about in holiday garb. The proceedings of the day may be said to have commenced by the Volunteers, who paraded in Latimer Square at 8 o'clock, under the command of their officers. All the city companies with the exception of the Yeomanry were represented, and as soon as they were formed they marched to the Railway Station to meet the Lyttelton and Ilsathcote Companies. They returned from the Station by way of High and Colombostreets, marching as far as the (Jarleton Hotel to meet the Kaiupui Companies who had been brought down by Cobb & Co’s, coach, which was beautifully decorated with flags. The entire column then marched back to Latimer Square, where they went through a few simple evolutions. Divine service was performed at St. Michael's Church at half-past nine, the following clergy being presents—The Lord Bishop of the Diocese, the Vea- r-.ble the Aichdeecm* of Christchurch, the ilevs. J. u. Bagshaw, H. Tort ease, W. C. iTearon, B. W. Dudley, C. Bowen, G-. Cotterill, J. Wilson, W. W. Willock, and R. Bradley. As soon as the service was completed, the procession was formed

in the Order already laid before our readers. The Volunteers, to the number of 450, and under the command of Major White, took the lead, and the rear was brought up by the police, under the orders of Inspector Fender. The procession passed along Oxford Terrace, Cashel-street, and Colom-bo-street to Cathedral Square. By this time the rain was falling heavily, and the number of people in the Square was by no means so large as it would have been had the day been fine.

The arrangements for. laying the stone were very complete; everyone know the place it was intended it should occupy, and there was no undue crowding. The ceremony occupied altogether about an hour, and was performed amid a perfect torrent of rain. It may be easily imagined that the crowd very soon dispersed. The Volunte< rs marched direct to the Forester’s Hall, where a first-rate luncheon had been prepared for the Kaiapoi, Lyttelton, and Heath cote Companies, by their Christchurch brethren in arms. THE EORAL SPOBT3. The general impression of the crowd in Cathedral Square, after the stone had been laid, was that the Sports would eertainly be postponed till a more favorable occasion, but the Stewards deemed it better to go on, trusting that the weather, which every now and then gave signs of breaking, would improve as the day advanced At a little past twelve, Latimer Square presented a most animated scene. In defiance of the rain, the fair portion of the community mustered in great force j the Volunteers were constantly arriving in groups of a dozen or more, and vehicles of all descriptions began to take up positions round the square. By the time the Stewards had closed the entries for the first event, there could not have been fewer than from two to three thousand people on the ground, and these, too, in spite of the weather. SALTTRDAY’S SPOUTS. The unfinished portion of the programme was proceeded with on Saturday. By two o’clock there were some hundreds of people in Latimer Square, amangst whom the fair sex greatly profor a time. As the afternoon wore on, however, this disparity was rectified. The weather was in very marked cont rast to I lie p~evions day, and the ground in first-rate order for the various sports. Wc trust that next, year the Stewards will be able to make better arrangements for the Sports. Had it not been for the valuable assistance of the police it would have been impossible to carry them on. A great deal of time was wasted by taking entries immediately before any game commenced. These ought to have been closed at any rate by twelve o’clock on the day appointed for the sports. We hope to see a largo space roped off in the centre of the square on the next occasion.