The Nelson Evening Mail.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 39, 14 February 1872, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1872,

Ash Wednesday Services. — Divine service will be held this evening at Christ Church and AU Saiuts' at 7 o'clock. Philharmonic Society. — The tickets for to-night's concert, we learn, are being rapidly disposed of, and the Society will have no cause to complain of the small attendance on the occasion of their Hrst appearing in public. Christ Church Organ. — The special service on the occasion of opening this organ was held last night, the church beiDg crowded in every part. The officiating clergymen were tbe Revs. G. H. Johnstone, C. O. Mules, R. J. Thorpe, and W. D. Rusz, an address appropriate to the occasion being delivered by tbe Bishop of Nelson. The service was principally musical, and consisted of (wo anthems, " 1 will lift up mine eyes," aud "In Judah is God known ;" the Psalms, which, for the first' time in Nelson, we believe, were chanted antipbonally, an arrangement that had a remarkably pleasing , effect ; the Canticles, Cantate Domino, i and Deus Misereatur, sung to Jackson's Services ; the " Old Hundredth " ; the Sanctus. and the beautiful Chorale, "Holiest breathe an evening blessing". There were also four Voluntaries, the concluding one being the grand old " Hallelujah Chorus." The whole service passed i off most successfully, the singing reflecting the greatest credit upon Mr. Macintosh, the precentor at Christ Church, and the numerous choir, which comprised members of the Christ Church and All Saints' choirs and oiher ladies and gentlemen, all of whom must have devoted a great deal of j time and attention to the practices to enable them to perform the important part they took in the service in so thoroughly I satisfactory a manner. But, however able aud skilled musicians a choir may be composed of, the success or otherwise of their efforts must as a matter of course depend to a very large extent upon the instrumental accompaniment to the voices, aud too much praise cannot be accorded I to Mr. Holloway, of the Bank of New Zealand, for the manner io which he presided at the organ last night. Indeed, to that gentleman the parishioners of Christ Church owe a debt of gratitude that it would be difficult to repay for his services in connection with the instrument, as it is entirely owing to him that it has been so quickly and bo satisfactorily put together, he having superintended its erection, which, under his directions, and with the able assistance of Mr. Moore, carpenter and builder of this town, and of several amateurs who took an interest in the matter, was completed within a week from the time of unpacking the cases. The organ, which is by T. C. Lewis, of Brixton, London, has two manuals and the following stops : — Great Organ : Open diapason, 8 feet, 56 pipes ; Salicional, 8 feet, 44 pipes ; Lieblich Gedact, 8 feet, 56 pipes ; octave, 4 feet, 56 pipes ; flute, 4 feet, 56 pipes ; fiautina, 4 feet, 56 pipes. Swell organ : Lieblich Gedact, 8 feet, 56 pipes; Geigen Principal, 8 feet, 56 pipes; Flute a pavilion, 8 feet, 54 pipes ; Geigen Principal, 4 feet, 56 pipes/ Pedal Organ : sub-bass, 16 feet, 30 pipes ; Couplers ; swell to great ; great to pedals ; swell to pedals. Composition pedals, two. We had omitted to state that the collection last night amounted to £16.