FESTIVAL AT TEMUKA.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2312, 14 August 1880, Page 2

FESTIVAL AT TEMUKA.

SECOND EDITION

What may bo termed a gathering of the clans, took place at Temuka last evening. Mrs Heap, the well-known landlady of the .Royal Hotel, and Mr P. Coira, its new proprietor, invited their friends from far and near to a grand festival. The celebration answered a double purpose, for Mrs Heap intended it as a house-warming for the incoming bonifacc, while Mr Coira, who lias still eschewed wedlock and in the morning was presented with an ash-pan and hearth brush, was keeping up his birthday. The Volunteer Hall, which was gaily decorated, was thronged by about 300 guests including a very good mixture of maids and matrons. The gathering was truly representative of town and country, some of the visitors being from Timaru, while others hailed from the very coniines of the Mackenzie Country. An array of side-tables groaned with every imaginable kind of luxury, from the choicest of sparkling wines to the most attractive delicacies of the dinner and dessert table. Formality was abandoned and the company united one and all to make the occasion one of the most enjoyable ever witnessed in the district. Messrs Peckingham and Levin contributed the music, and dancing was kept up—as many as 50 couples being on the Hour at a time —till daylight put the kerosene lamps out.