Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1880.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 260, 24 December 1880, Page 2

Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1880.

It is not too much to say that last night's concert was the most successful ever given by the Harmonic Society. The benches were full, the Hall was crowded, the selections were good, and the performance of them was most creditable, and the result must have been peculiarly gratifying to Mr Fell, who in his position as conductor has devoted so much time to drilling his company, and possibly has occasionally at the practices been driveu to drawing pretty exhaustively upon his stock of patience, for it must have been no light task to train so large a body of singers until they reached a point at which it was necessary to arrive before attempting to give in public such difficult music as that of Haydn's " Seasons," which comprised the first part of the concert. The solos, duetts, and trios in this, some of them exceedingly pretty, were very tastefully sung, and the choruseß, although once or twice, nnd especially in that which commences with the words "Be propitious," the critical ear might have detected some slight unsteadiness, were rendered remarkably well and with so much zest that it was evident that those who took part in them entered into the spirit of both the music and the words and were not reduced, as i9 frequently the case after a long series of practices in all their dry delaiJs, to so many pieces of mechanism, responsive only to the beats of the conductor's baton, and totally devoid of nil sympathy with the composer. On the contrary, one of the chief pleasures to be derived from listening to the singers last night was occasioned by the evident feeling which they threw into their work. To the young lady who presided a*, the piano too much praise cannot possibly be awarded for the excellence of her accompaniments, to which in no small measure was the BUcceas of the concert owing. Her playing was invariably correct, and at I times brilliant, and if the promises she holds out aie fulfilled she should some day take a high rank among pianistes. The first part of the concert closed with a portion of the ' Creation " including the grand chorus " The Heavens are telling," which was beyond all question the most spiritedly and successfully rendered of all the choruses, the general effect being very largely aided by the orchestra, an addition which it gives us no little pleasure to welcome to the Society's ranks. v Considering- the short time they have been practising together the progress they have made is most creditable to them and to Mr Fell who has taken them. in band, and their performances last night, afforded no little pleasure to the.audience. The second part consisted of" miscellaneous' selections and the merry and qniusing glee for men's voices " The Three Chafers " was so well and correctly sung that it called forth the first encore of the evening, and a like compliment was paid to a lady, from Wanganui, to whom was'entrusted the next item on the programme, the'sweetly pretty ballad " Dermot As tore," which was sung with exquisite taste and great sweetness. A pianoforte s olo by the same lady, consisting of one of Mozart's Sonatas, may fairly be described as " the gem of the evening," and the good taste of the audience was- shown in their rapturous demand for an- encore. Stevens' beautiful glee' 1 The cloud cap't towers ;'' a very pleasing duett for tenor and bass ; one or two songs, including the appropriate one " King Christmas'^ sung by the popular Secretary of the Society, and a polka played by the' orchestra 1 composed the rest of the programme, and brought to a close a concert which, was a real creclit tothe Society, while it'offorded a large amount of pleasure to one of the largest audiences that bas for such a purpose assembled in the Provincial Hall. '. " ■ " '.- : A special railway time table has been arranged for Boxing Day which will provide ample opportunities for an exchange of visits between' residents in the' town and. country. A regular raid has been made upon tbe gardens in the town to-day by those engaged in the decoration of the churches, v which, so fares the work has yet proceeded, promise on this occasion to equal, if not to excel their appearance on any previous Christmas Day. • ' : . There will be a service at the Wesleyan Church at seven o'clock tomorrow morning. The Compensation Court at' Blenheim has awarded Mr A. G. Fell £7,050 for land taken for railway purposes, &c, together with £50 costs; and the trustees of the Wesleyan Church £1,050, -and costs £25. Mr Fell's claim altogether amounted to £10,000, and the Government offered £4,500. The Wesleyan Church trustees claimed £1,200, and were offered £800. '" : . \ ' •'",, The Franzini Company have arrived from Wellington, and will make their first appearance in Nelson on. Boxing night. The first part of the programme is of a miscellaneous character, and' will comprise a number of amusing sketches, songs, &c, and the latter consists of scenes from Pinafore, The Sorcerer, Trial by Jury, &c. The Company have attiacted large : audiences wherever they have performed before, and, no doubt, will have no reason to regret .their visit to Nelson. i Mr Trask. has' made up his mind that no one in Nelson shall go without a Christmas dinner to-morrow if he can help it. , Should there be any who from warit' of this world's goods are in doubt -us to how their tables-are to be supplied to-morrow Mr Trask generously undertakes, as wilt be seen by his advertisement which appears elsewhere, to solve the difficulty for them, . . Mr Mabin reports the sale of privileges at the Atheletic Club'ecnNewYear'sDay sports as follows :— A. Leech, licensed victualler's booth No. 1, £11 11s ; W.-Stallard, licensed victuallers' Nos. 2 arid 3, £8 5s and £3 12s 6d respectively ; : -Donaldson, refreshment booths Nob. 1 and 2, £2 12s! <6d, and ;£3 3s respectively; . J. James, fancy bazaar, £1 10s; W. R. Parmenter, right of games, £6 15s ; F. N. Jones, right of cards, £1 ; W. StallurJ, right to provide lunch, £1. •'• ■ The Superintendent of St. Mary's Orphanage has requested us to offer her sincere thanks to those who have generously forwarded contributions towards, giving, a Christmas treat to the inmates of the institution under her care. ' .' Thes Sheriff of Wellington has received a large number of applications from persona desirous of carrying out the last sentence of the law on Tuhi, the Opunabe murderer, who is to be hanged on Wednesday next. It is not kpown yet whether any one of the numerous applicants has been appointed to the honorable post of hangman, tbe Sheriff having wisely declined to give any information on the subject. , Besidks having a tremendous display of splendid saddlery Mr ,F. N. Jones, of Tra-falgar-street, has in his windpw a model of the celebrated Australian race horse "The Barb."— Advt. "' ■ . . A cricket match will be played in the Botanical Reserve on Monday next between the City Rifles and Naval Brigade, commencing at 11 ; o'clqck. Both teams have been doing steady practice for the ■ past fortnight, and a good game is" anticipated. The following are the nameßof the teams:— City Rifles: J. Kitching (captain), Jackson, Bartyrop, Richards; Capper, . T. Batching,. A. .Miller,. J. Miller,' \Levy, Whitwell, Bradshaw,} Livick. Naval Brigade:' Hunter, Chamberlain, tjackr son, Watson, Lipscombe, Waters, Collins, Picketfc, Thompson, Crowdis, and Fathers (captain.) •'. ;, , . = 10 ■• :;': ■..'.'-' ':' The Union Bank is about to establish a branch at Levuka,

Mohdat next will be a Port Office Holi- 1 day: Town and country offices will be open from 9, t0 10 a.m. only. 1 SuNDATJhonrB will be observed at all Tele- i graph in : this colony 'on Monday," 27.th inst. (Boxing Day). - ?i ! : j The sohooner Midge which, , arrived at . Auckland from Fiji yesterday brings "the following account of an extraordinary row at Levuka:— A digraceful fracas occurred between the foreign laborers at Vagadau, in which some serious injuries were sustained. The row arose out of a quarrel between an Oba boy and a Solomon man, both servants of one household. Their quarrel was "espoused by nearly two hundred men of the two nationalities, and a battle was fought on the cricket ground. Stones and sticks were freely used> One man had bis jaw badly fractured, and numbers are suffering from severe cuts and contusions. A number of men were found necessary to remove the wounded combatants to the hoipital, and in the evening many .of the rioters were arrested by the police. They have since been brought before the Bench and remanded for eight days. A Melbourne telegram of the Uth instant says}— About 6000 people visited the steamer Sorata on Sunday. A charge of 6d per head realised £63, which will be distributed among the Melbourne charities. No official survey has been made, but tenders for the repairs wjll shortly be called. Sydney and Mel-, bourne firms are expected to compete. A recent Melbourne telegram Bays: — An action was brought yesterday in the City Court against Mr Tuche, proprietor of an hotel in Melbourne, to recover; £85, the. amount due on the Cup sweep.! The defendant pleaded the illegality of the transaction. Judge Cope held that the action could not be maintained, and nonsuited the plaintiff with costs. \ The liavgior'a Standard of a recent issue was good enough to favour Nelson with the ; following notice. It is a little dilatory in. its comments, but such as (hey are, they may afford amusement to some few here : — "Nelson the charming nook sheltered from the : notoriously vfolent galeß of Cook's Straits, has long been called the " Sleepy Hollow." And wall, we fancy, does it deserve the name. Nature has been bountiful to this little gem of the Britain of the South, not from a commercial point of view, of course, but from a less sordid one. It is a gently slumbering hollow, where flowers and fruit are brought to perfect maturity— if not to a remnnentive market — and a perfect colonial heaven for played-out military or naval officers, hopeful if .forlorn maidens, and dys-. peptic widows. Yet, all said and done, there is now and then a dash of humour about Nelsouian doings and Bayings "when the wind blows fair." Here is a case iu point ; one of the semi-hebdominal ones. There is a well known populous centre near Nelson called Bridgewater (*ic.) and there a public meeting lately took place to consider and " take in band " the affairs of the nation. It was largely and influentially attended and, lo and behold 1 the following useful resolutions were passed mm com— "That it is; the opinion of this meeting that no public officer, although, he be head of a department, should receive a larger salary than £500 per annum; that all other officers of the Government be more consistently remunerated than hitherto, and the objectional and unfair method of very high and low salaries be abolished ; and that officers whose duties cause them to work overtime, be allowed for extra time.".; 'lie the oppressive charges made by lawyers, it was .resolved;—" That as the Government, through their. Judgeß, virtually compel persons, seeking justice to employ lawyers, the Government should fix lawyers' fees as they do cabmen's arid boatmen's. That doctors' fees should be toned down to fair prices governed by statute." Who will be found in this " lawyer ridden" and "doctor feed" land of ours to raise a single voice against these matter of fact proposals ? Not one, we feel sure. Doctors we might leave alone. Lawyers we cannot. They constitute the heaviest tax the colonist has to pay. He can scarcely sneeze without the assistance of a limb of the law. He certainly cannot assert that his very soul is his own without the lawyer's fiat that such may or may not be safely asserted, under such or such a statute, and at . the cost also of innumerable six-and-eight-pences, "as provided for by law, etc., etc.'