TO THE EDITOR OF THE PRESS.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 11500, 5 February 1903, Page 3

TO THE EDITOR OF THE PRESS.

Sir, —" Only a Subscriber " has verjv cniw*e for his complaint re tho distribution of the above fund, but I do not intend to enter into any argument about this distribution.. Does your correspondent think that profc«&ional organists are "luxuries? , ' For my part, I think that good music is as necessary to a service as good preaching (which we do not get a great deal of in seme churches). I do not hold a brief for any organist, but I certainly like good music, and if wa can only get good musio by employing professionals, then, I eay,.let us have them by all mean. , !. But I can't see that " professional organists arc luxuries." With regird to the providing of a suitable stipend for the priest, if the people appreciated his work amongst them, I am sure they would willingly give him " a decent hire." But if he is poorly paid, the reason is quite clear. One of the districts quoted by jour correspondent has greatly increased of late •years, and yet yeara ago, with another clergyman in charge, the church used to be packed on festivals, and now (with a larger population) the congregations are smaller. Where Joes the fault lie?— Yours, etc., W.H.G.