Queen's Birthday.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2893, 24 May 1878, Page 2

Queen's Birthday.

Volunteer Review and Sham Fi£ht.

This morning—the anniversary of Her Most Gracious Majesty's 59th birthday - opened fi.ie, though at 9 a.m. the aspect of the sky gave promise of a showery day whic'i, by the way, appears to be a usual concomitant of the anniversary of the natal day of the Queen. This, howeve.', did not deter the loyal members of ou citizen soldiery from assembling attheir respective drill.sheds for the purpose of car/yiug out the programme arranged for the day's proceedings, and at about halften o'clock the following companies were mustered iv quarter column at the Bank of New Zealand corner :~ Thames Scottish, Captain Murray and Lieuts. Johnston and Bey, 62; band, 22-total ... 84 No. 2 HJI.V., Captain. Small and Lieuts. Barlow and Denby, 46; band, 16—total ... 61 T.Kuli. and No. 3 HIT, amalgamated, Capt. Macdonald (No. 3) ai:d Lieuts. Carnie and Farrell tT.E,R)—total; ... ... ... 45 Native corps, Capiam Taipari and Lieuts. Eaika Whakarngatai, and Matiu Poona—total ... „. 25 Thames Naval Brigade rifle detachment, Captain Wildman and Lieut. Lawless, 52; gun detachment, Lieut. Bennett, 19; baud, 15 — total ... ... ... 36 Total strength of adult companies ... 301 The two cadet companies, which were to play the role of enemy in the day's proceedings, had already marched to the battle-field. Th 3 following is the strength of the respective companies :— Thames Scottish Cadets, Captain Mennie and Lieuts. Eowe and Robinson ... ... ... ... 26 St. George's Naval Cadets, Lieuts. Savage and Vernoti ... ... 40 The total strength of the Cadet companies thus .was 66, the grand total of Volunteers and t?dets being 357. Major Cooper, who commanded the parado, call' d the officers to the front, and having given instructions concerning the sbam fight, the officers saluted, recovered swo/ds, and returned to their respective companies. The march iowards Tarara then began, the No. 2 Haurakis forming the vanguard. On. arrival at 1 Tararu the vanguard felt the enemy, who were ex landed in skirmishing order along tbe top of a small ridge or embankment r?acb:ng from the Gardens to the beach. A lively fusilade was opened after which the advance guard fell back, and the whole column wheeled into line and tlien advanced covered by tbe Thames Scottish. When near the creak the line.halted, and the Scottish re-formed at the rear. -The cadets having withdrawn across the creek the Naval gun delatchments advance 1 to the front, supported by the Brigade and. the Nrtives, and a' lively overture was performed by the 24 pounders. After the jmmaud " cease firing " bad teen given tlie guns Jwere withdrawn, and the {line being re-formed, retired, each compauy fving a volley in good style and retiring from the right in rear of the left. All these movements were gone through very creditibly and the energetic manner which Lieut. Bennett and his gun detach* ment acted is worthy of high approval. The line then advanced by echelon of com ). nie3 and a number of move-, ments of a simiiarcharacUr were executed, one of them being the movement for rej filing cavalry who were supposed to be attacking the right flank. The line was withdrawn by echelon'from the left, end it was reformed by the companies taking open order for the purpose of firing a feu de joie. The Naval guns were pot ed on the leftj and fired the royal salute of 21 guns, and at every seventh discharge making a stoppage, during wh»ch the line fired one volley of tbeir feu de joiz. The first volley was rather marred by some men in the centre of the line firing before taeir turn, but the other two were execut lin a highly creditable manner. The band then played a few bars of the National Anthem, and three chairs having been given for the Queen, the order " Break into column " was given, and the march homeward began. On arrival at the Corner again they were formed in column, and M»jor Cooper called the winners of the district prizes to the front, and presented them as follows :—

At the conclusion of the presentation of prizes, Major Cooper called to the front Sergeant James Donnelly, late of the 70th Regiment, and said he had much pleasure m acceding to the request of His Royal Highness the Field-Marshal Commanding •in • Chief and presenting Donnelly with medals for service in the Indian Mutiny and in New Zealand. (He then handed to Donnelly llie Indian and New Zealand medals.) The C-ficer Commanding thanked the officers and men for their exce'lent attendt ac 3 and march out, and for the pre-

The C-ficer Commanding thanked the officers and men for their exce'lent attendtnea and march out, and for the pre-

cision with which the battallion move* ments bad been execated, remarking that theiiving was not perhaps as regular as it might hare been, but the turn out generally was very creditable. The companies were then dismissed. Subsequent Proceedings* The subsequent proceedings pariock of ,the nature of convivial gatherings, the Thames Scottish being- entertained at Gresham Hall, the Naval Brigade at the Pacific Hotel..and the No. 2 Haurakis at the Queen's Hotel. The Naval Brigade set down to a bountiful luncheon provided by Hor-t Curtis, and presided over by Captain t*.. T. Wild man in the chair, with Lieutenant Bennett and Secretary and Paymaster Lawless acting as croupiers; The attendance of the brigade was betw on CO a«id 90, and there werj present besides, Captain Fraser, Mr A. J. Allom, Mr W. I H. Reid, Major Cooper, and Sergeant* Major Grant. After full justice had been done to the luncheon by the hungry men who hid been paraded for about five hours, and actively employed during mo^t of that time, Captain Wi^nan proposed "The Health of Her TOt Gracious Majesty the Queen " in a few appropriate words, and.the toast was right loyally received, a verse of the National Anthem being sung, led off by Mr C. Brown. Capt. Fraser then proposed in complimentary terms "The health of Captain Vildmati," and congratulated the brigade on having' secured such a good officer; ~ He said: he had had many opportunities of admiring the Brigade, but not once before the chance of addressing them. . He had seen Captain Wildmau ruling over ot'ier associations, and he could say that he was admirably fitted for bis present' position, and he believed that if they worke 1 well with their present Captain the Brigade .would become (he first volunteer company in tb j Southern hemisphere. (The speaker referred to his experien* es as a volunteer officer, and as a semi-muitary officer, and administered some wholesome advice regarding the observance of discipline, and the exercise of self-denial while in the ranks, deprecating what he hi d seen that day, men smoking on the line of march while sitting on a gun carriage. Captain Fraser was repeatedly and vociferously cheered during his speech—which we have io curtail owing to the time of delivery—aud the toast of Captain WiMman's health wrs most enthusiastically revived with cheers, and cheers for Captain Fraser.

Captain Wildman said, in reply; he bad already returned thanks for patting him in the position of Captain of the Brigade-, but he would do so once more, and that heartily. He also thanked Captain Fraser — not for the c •mplimentary reruarks regarding himself or the Brigade, but for the useful Mots he bad thrown out from his experience as an old volunteer officer. He hoped to see thoie ideas—the officer to rule and direct add the man to obey—carried out. He commended Captain Fraser's remarks to their consideration. The company then dispersed. . ~ Thrass Scottish. Tfie Thame/ Scottish luncheon commenced punctually at 2 o'clock; in all about J2O sat down, to dinner. . Captain Murray presided, and Lieuts. Johnston and JJey occupied the vice-chairs. Amongst tbe ,guests present we noticed A. Brodie, Esq., County Chairman; Mr ! Sub-T st "ctor Bullen and others. Mr Symng on. was caterer, and the recherche* luncheon he provided was done ample justice to. The Chairman asked them to charge their glf sses, as he had a toast to propose* namely that of " The Queen." Drank with musical honora. The next toast was " The Prnce of Wales and all tlfe members of the royal family," which was also drunk with customary Royalty.. The Chpirman proposed "The health of His Excellency *'ie Coyeraor," who, he said, was a good Governor, and also a good commander of the Colonial forces. , \ Drunk with "He is a 'oily good fellow." . Mr A. Brodie propos< I " The Army, Navy, and Colonial Forces," wbich was reponded to by Mapr Cooper, aid drunk enthusiastically. _•• The Local Bodies" was proposed 6j the Chairman, and responded to by the County Chairman, Mr A. Brod'e. Other toasts followed, including that of "The hea'.th of Mr' Bullen," "The Ladies," and " The Pre3s," af^er whicli the company repa-at d, all being satisfied with the day's proceedings. The Scottish Cadets were regaled with a " spread at St. George's Hall, after whic'i they enjoyed tbemselves torsereral hours -with skating, etc. -

Ho. 2 Haurokis.

The members of No. 2 were bi'letted after the fatigues of the day at host Vaughan's, of the Queen's Hotel, where about 70 sat down to luncheon at 2 p.m. Attar the substantial viands had been done ample justice to, Captain Small paid that as he was a Good Templar ho would call on his ty> most efficient subalterns, Lieuts. BatlowV and Denby, to act as toast-masters. He felt assured hiscomrades would not think the less of him for acting up to his principles. 7 Lieut. Barlow said that though the pleasing duty of proposing the health of our most gracious sovereign devolved on him he wisned it had fallen in better hands, but he knew that every man, whether Irish, Scotch, or English would cordially unite wilh him in drinking " The heaUh of Her Majesty the Queen, at the same time wishing her many happy returns of the day."

Di dnk with musical honors.

Lieut. Denby proposed the ".Prince of Wales and the rest of the Royal Family," "His Excellency the Governor," "The Premier and Ministers," " Capt. Small," " The Press" and " The Ladies'* followed, soags being interspersed, and at about 4 o'clock tht-y separated haring highly enjoyed them sel res.

Prize. No. Name. ' Points. & s. d. 1. Seaman Fagg W, TNB., .. .. 68 .. 6 0 0 2. Vol. NeivdickA, ISV .. .. 6C .. 5 0 0 3. Serjeant Mo.Leod J, TSV ... 65 .. 5 .0 0 4. Capiain Muiray, TSV .. .. 65 .. 4 0 0 5. SvJgcant Gordon R, TRR .. 6.'. .. 4 0 0 6. Vol. We.r P, ISV C 4.. 3 0 0 7. Ser^ear-t Clark G, No. 2HItV.. 64 .. 3 0 0 8. Vol. Piice, TSV Ci .. 2 0 0 9. Lieut. Gav.-.n T, ViTO .. .. 64 .. 2 0 0 10. Vol. Reid D, TSV .. ... 63 .. 1,10 0 ll.Raman Jamleson, Tt3V .. .. 63 .. 110 0 12. Vol. Ai-rstrong, N->. 2 HRV .. 63 .. 1 5 0 13. Vol. McKee, ThY .. .. .. 63 .. 15 0 14. Seaman Parslow, TNB .. .. ,62 .. 1 0 0 15. P.O. Goi-don J, TNB .. .. 62 .. 1 0 0 16. P.O. Thomas A, TNB .. .. 62 .. 1 0 0 17. Vol. Clark GS, TSV .. .. 61 .. 1 0 0 18. SrJiianNelsoi., TNB .. -.61 .. 1 0 0 £44 10 0

FIRST SET.

1. Vol. Lucss, TSV ■« .. .4 v o 2. Sea'J-an Penk R, TNB .. .. 4G .. 4 0 0 3. Vel. Forgie J, TSV ' .45 ..300 4. Cesman Walker J, TNB.., .. 45 .. 3 0 0 5. Se-g.'antCaitwri.ThtN, TRR .. 45 ..200 6. Vol. Bennett T, Ho. 2 HRV ..45 .. 2 0 0 7. Vol. Samson J, TER, .. ..44 .. 110 0 8. Vol. Buckley A, No. 3 HRV .. 44 .. 110 0 9. Vol. Richs.rOson W, No. 3 HRV 44 .. ISO 10. Bi-msAW,TSV... .. -.. 44 .: 10 0 11. Symiirrlon G, TSV .. .. 44 .. 10 0 12. HUI H, No. 3 HEY .. .. 44 .. 10 0 13. HennellyM.No. 2 HRV.. ..44 .. 10 0 14. Brov.Tilce J, TSV .. .. .. 44 .. 10 0 15. Seonian Wilson C, TNB .. .. 43 .. 10 0 16. Vol. Hay H, No. 3 HRV.. .. 43 .. i 0 0 17. Sergeant Scott T, TSV .. .. 43 .. 1 0 0 £30 5 0

„ . SECOND SET. I

CADETS.

1. Ste]. liens'F,--NC ".. 2. PenkG.NC 3. Treva;than H, TSC .. 4. Ingles J,NC .... 5. Mackle J, NC .. .. 6. Butt E, NO •.. * „ 7. Rodford T, TSC .. 8. Moore T, NO 9. Cooper A, NC .j 10. Cr,mpbell D, NC .. .. 42 .. 2 0 0 .'.. 41 .. 2 00 .. 43 ... 10 0 -'..■ 35 .. 1 0 0 .. 33 .. 015 0 .. 82 .. 015 0 .. 31 .. 010 0 ;. 31 ..-. 0 10,0 .. 30 .. 0 10-0 .. 29 .. 010 0 £9 10 0