VOLUNTEER DEMONSTRATION.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2519, 18 April 1881, Page 2

VOLUNTEER DEMONSTRATION.

The Easter review at Oanmru began on Friday and attracted about one thousand rank and li!c. The big gun competition on Saturday had to be. postponed for want of gunpowder. There were a few sports at the race course. 'the muster includes (ho Timaru Artillery, an Otago battalion, the Southland Hussars, and a contingent from Christchurch and Ashburton. The camp accomodation has given great satisfaction, Mr G. Amos

being the caterer and Major Sumpter having charge of the arrangements. A sacred concert on Friday evening proved an extraordinary fiasco. It was arranged that the brass bands should perform only sacred music, in accordance with the solemnity of the day. Instead of this being adhered to, “ The Last Judgment,” by the Oamaru Band, and “ Beethoven’s Funeral March ” got mixed up with selections from, “ Pinafore,” “ Lucrczia Borgia,” and Irish jigs, which the Invercargill minstrels insisted on performing. “Gloria,” from Haydn’s “ Imperial Mass,” and “The Wake of Teddy Roe,” assisted in forming a glorious medley, and the proceedings terminated in a musical uproar. The gasworks were stormed on Saturday morning, three guns being brought to bear against a solitary target. Unfortunately the latter was fixed in the wrong position, and none of the gunners succeeded in striking it. The absence of any wind to direct the shot was one of the causes of their efforts being misdirected. Their comrades in drinking their healths proposed “ better luck next time,” and suggested the expediency of having an expert appointed to fix the targets in future. The afternoon was devoted to dancing, and in the evening there was another musical medley, which was wound up in the usual festive manner. On Sunday morning there was a perfect raid on the soda-water,and the available supply speedily disappeared. Some of the visitors showed evident signs of fatigue, and it was commonly remarked that heavy drill did not agree with their constitutions. There was but a small attendance at church parade, but the back parlors drove a roaring business. In the evening an epidemic of sea sickness supervened, and a large number of the visitors suffered a recovery. To-day the demonstration was to terminate with a sham bottle, but owing to the telegraph operators observing (Sunday hours we have had no intelligence from the seat of war.