BAZAAR and ENTERTAINMENT.

Patea Mail, 27 July 1880, Page 2

BAZAAR and ENTERTAINMENT.

The Bazaar held at Patea last week, and the closing entertainment, have realised a total of about £152. The actual amount iu hand yesterday was £l4B 9s ; and some small payments had to be received. A number of articles remained unsold on Friday night, and these are .to he put into an art union, to be arranged about Christmas next. The doll’s house, a handsome piece of infantile architecture furnished and decorated by Mrs W. Mackenzie, is to be raffled for iu a few days, three or four members at 5s being still required. Applications ma3 r be made to Mrs Mackenzie. In addition to the ladies assisting at the stalls should be mentioned Miss Malone, at Mrs Chaney’s stall. The entertainment on Saturday realised £27, as nearly as could be ascertained yesterday, some tickets Laving been sold outside the Hall. The number present was probably 220. The Catholic Church building fund now amounts to about £2OO cash, and another £IOO is due from the Hawera congregation, who borrowed that sum from the Patea fund to proceed with the Catholic Church at Hawera, upon an undertaking to repay the money to the Patea building fund when required. They will be invited to make the repayment within the next twelve months. Wo are informed that the new chinch for this religious body in Patea is to be commenced probably in less than six mouths. The Catholic Bishop is now on a visit to England; with the object of bringing out priests required iu his diocese. It is expected and intended that one shall he located iu Patea before the present year expires; and so soon as that is assured, the building of a church will lie commenced. A section of ground suitable for a site was purchased recently for £95, The liberality and unanimity which have marked the occasion of this bazaar will have induced a better feeling between the religious denominations in the district. There is no more melancholy evidence of unchristian charity than the denominational jealousies which commonly mark the relations of religious bodies in any locality. We consider it a distinct public advantage that this feeling should be so, agreeably absent as between the religious bodies in this district; and every public manifestation which induces them to co-operate in a common work, and especially in a work of charily, is a pleasing evidence of right* feeling and good sense. THE ENTERTAINMENT. A public entertainment, musical and dramatic, was given in the Town Hall on Saturday evening, by ladies and gentlemen of Patea district/ with assistance from

two i.i-.lies at Hawera, connected with the Catholic body, .and one lady from Wanganui. The hall was crowded, and so large an audience is a rarity in Patea, and was another evidence of the generous good-will of the public in assisting a number of residents to obtain spiritual comfort in their own way.

The musical selections in the first part were well received, and were rendered with the nice taste and care which characterise the performances of a well-known musical society. The song “ Dublin Bay ” was given effectively by a lady visitor from Wanganui; and two ladies of Hawera sang songs with equal success, “Theblind girl to her harp ” and “ Scenes that are brightest,” the latter being sung with too little confidence. These songs were encored. Among other features was a;basso song, “ The Sexton,” given with vigorous expression by a resident lately returned to Patea; also the quartette, “See our oars with feathered spray,” bright and sweetly harmonious. The baritone song, “ William Rufus,” encored, was marked by a distinct enunciation of words that might be imitated. by students with i advantage. The “ Tar’s Farewell,” an effective old favorite, was rendered under the difficult}' of a cold. The closing chorus went pleasingly; and we believe that this musical performance was considered to be more satisfactory, so far as it went, than Patea concerts usually are, one reason being the varied lightness of the selections, and perhaps we may add the farther pleasure derived by contrast with the different sort of amusement which followed. :

The second part was a sort of comedy drama, yclept the “ Trial Scene from Pickwick.”- Here the local historian has less liberty to be critical, and must record the impressions of other observers. The stage was arranged to represent a court of justice —we presume a Supreme Court—-and a very affective . and novel scene' it must have been, according to report. A good stage picture goes a long way in securing the success of a dramatic representation. There were barristers in wigs and gowns, orating and examining and making notes ; also bis lordship the judge, reposing—and report says nodding sometimes, as judges will—under bis canopy of state ; with jurors all in a row, all “good men and true,” sworn to return a just verdict as between the parties. Then the witnesses were a queer lot—this again is only report —testifying to all manner of unimportant trifles supposed to prove that a promise of marriage had been made—and broken. Mrs Cluppins was an interesting person, and the audience seem to have thought there wasn’t enough of her—probably because her bashfulness would not permit the dear good creature to lift her veil iu court. Mr Winkle, an unwilling witness, was thought to he a great success, his get-up being historically correct. Mrs Saunders, another important witness, also excited curiosity and amusement; and it is affirmed, by outsiders, that the “ladies” in the cast went through the business triumphantly. Then that amusing oddity, Sam Weller, the domestic comedian of the book, quite upset the gravity of the court, and nonplussed the blustering counsel who was examining him as to his capacity to sco through a flight of stairs and a deal door. There was no getting over a witness like that —standing with his arms akimbo, and his cockaded hat stuck on his elbow for a peg. The counsel—we mean the learned counsel —went through their speechifying in regulation style, demonstrating that a promise of marriage was made, and with equal clearness showing that such a promise never was made ; all this being very life-like. And what a sensation there was when the verdict was brought in, with damages £750 ; that being the price of a broken promise, and the exact amount which the jury calculated would compensate the disconsolate widow with her interesting little boy. ,

The success of this part of the entertainment, and the pleasing compliments expressed in private by observers, ought to encourage the amateur theatrical gentlemen to invite the Patea public to another play in a short time. This kind of entertainment has not been too plentiful in these parts, we are told. At the close of the programme, Father Grogan rose and thanked the public of the district for their liberal assistance in making the bazaar and entertainment so successful ; and thanking the performers also for their kind labors in the same behalf. He said the other religious denominations might depend upon the heartiest reciprocation, after the exceeding generositj'which had been manifested towards the Catholic body in this work of churchbuilding.