The Second Regiment Of The Otago Mounted Rifles
includes six volunteer companies; namely, the Southland, Mataura, Whakatipu, Kelso, Murihiku, and Wallace. Lieutenant-Colonel J. E. Hawkins is in command, and Invercargill is the headquarters of the Regiment.
Lieutenant-Colonel John Edward Hawkins
, Officer in Command of the Second Regiment Otago Mounted Rifles, was born in Victoria, in 1861, and has been connected with volunteering since 1877. He has been in command of the Second Regiment since 1902. Mr. Hawkins is the manager of the Invercargill Borough Gas Works.
The Southland Battalion Band
dates from the 5th of May, 1902, when the amalgamation of the Invercargill Garrison and City Bands took place. The original band was first organised in 1865. It experienced many ups and downs, and was reorganised in 1876 by the late Captain Heywood, who took a great interest in it to the time of his death. It was the first Garrison Band in New Zealand, and under Captain Heywood'a direction, gave a great impetus to band music in the colony. It was the most popular institution in Invercargill, and had a fine record; it was the first to take a prize at a competition, the first to win on a test selection, and the first to win on two test selections. The records of the band were: at Oamaru, 1881, first; Invercargill, 1883, second; Wellington, 1885, second; Oamaru, 1886, first; Dunedin, 1890, second; Dunedin, 1891, fourth; Christcliurch, 1893, first; Invercargill, 1894, two firsts; Dunedin, 1896, second and fourth; Melbourne, 1897, fourth. Officers for 1903: Lieutenant P, H. Mohr, Conductor and Bandmaster; Sergeants J. Cox and R. Galbraith; Mr. J. W. Glennie, Loader; Corporal H. Anthony: Mr. T. W. Walker, Secretary; and Mr. J. Strang, Treasurer. The Band has about thirty-eight members.
Lieutenant Philip Henry Mohr
, Conductor and Bandmaster of the Southland Battalion Band, was born in London, in March, 1868. He arrived with his parents in Lyttelton in 1872, and gained his musical education in Christchurch, where he studied harmony, composition, and counterpoint, under the late Mr. lendall, Mus. Bac, Organist to the Cathedral. Mr. Mohr went to Australia for further experience, and played under Signor Hazon in the Sydney Philharmonic Society. He afterwards joined the Montague Turner Opera Company, and went to Melbourne, where he took up the position of principal cornet in the Italian Opera, under Signor Mafiazoli. On returning to New Zealand, Mr. Mohr settled at Invercargill, to act as conductor of the City Band; but owing to the state of his wife's health, he moved to Timaru, and took the command of the Timaru Garrison Band. On the death of his wife, Mr. Mohr returned to Invercargill, and was appointed to his present position. He gave up music as an active profession,
and entered the office of the “Southern Cross” newspaper, as accountant, and still holds the position. Mr. Mohr was married, in 1890, to a daughter of Captain H. R. Cross, V.D., Vice-Consul for Chili, and commander of the Newcastle Naval Brigade.
Sergeant James Cox
, of the Invercargill Garrison Band, was connected with the Band for about eighteen years, and held office as sergeant for ten years. He was born in Worcester, England, in 1865, and was educated partly in his native city and partly in New Zealand, having arrived at Port Chalmers, by the ship “Christian McCausland,” in 1874. On settling in Invercargill, Mr. Cox learned his trade as a bootmaker with Messrs. Kingsland and Co., and has for some time been in the service of that firm. Sergeant Cox has been connected with the volunteers for many years—first with the cadets, then with the Invercargill Rifles, and at present (1904) with the Garrison Band. He holds the New Zealand long service medal, on account of sixteen years of service. Mr. Cox was for live years a member of the Borough Council of North Invercargill. As an Oddfellow he is connected with the Loyal St. George Lodge, Manchester Unity; he has passed the chairs twice, and has on more than one occasion been
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delegate of the district meeting. He was married, in 1896, to a daughter of the late Mr. Robert Dalziel, of Scotland,
and has one daughter and three sons.
Mr. Alexander Ferguson
, formerly Sergeant of the Invercargill Garrison Band, has been a member of the Volunteer force
since 1869, when he joined the 5th Invernesshire Light Infantry, afterwards the 10th Lanarkshire. On his arrival in Invercargill in 1875, he was made Corporal of the Invercargill Garrison Band. Mr. Ferguson is well known throughout Australasia as a euphonium soloist. He took part in the contests in which the Invercargill Garrison Band competed at Oamaru, Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington, and Melbourne. Mr. Ferguson was a member of Bulch's Ballarat Model Band, and won first prize for solo playing at the Centennial Hall in Sydney in 1888, also first prize at the Druids' gala, held in Melbourne in 1897, and has won seven second prizes. He wears the New Zealand Long Service Medal, and also plays the double bass in the Invercargill Orchestral Society.
Mr. R. W. Jones
, formerly Sergeant of the Invercargill Garrison Band, of which he was a leading member for many years—and took a prominent part in its reorganisation in 1876—is one of Southland's best known and most respected Volunteers. Up to 1876 the band was called the “Volunteer Band,” which was its name when Mr. Jones became a member, on the 20th of December, 1873—the day he landed in New Zealand. Mr.
Clement Morton, the secretary of the Band, having listened to Mr. Jones playing on a cornel, which he had brought from England, thereupon Invited him to become a member; for upwards of twenty years he remained a staunch and active member. He was elected its first sergeant—an office he held for many years—and was also secretary. As an instrumentalist, he was for many years indispensable, at different times filling the positions of solo tenor, first baritone, and Brat trombone. He claims to have been the first to introduce the slide trombone into the band. Previous to leaving the Old Country. Mr. Jones was a member of the St. Aulkinonds' Temperance Band, Salop, the first Shropshire Artillery Band, and the band of the 7th Shropshire Rifles. He was a member of these bands between the years 1864 and 1873. He occupied the position of chairman at the Invercargill Garrison Band's “Majority” social, which took place on the 29th of October, 1898, and his reminiscences of the Band's early days were both amusing and interesting. In 1902 the Invercargill Garrison and City Bands amalgamated under the title of the Southland Battalion Band, of which Mr. Jones is an honorary member.
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