BAND CONTEST.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 11502, 7 February 1903, Page 4

BAND CONTEST.

SUCCESS OF A YOUNG* PLAYER

(SPECIAL TO "THE M-KSB.") MAiSTEBTON, February 6. In the solos to-day, the boy Mellor, of Waihi, carried off the prize in the IB flat horn solo competition fipm twelve other competitors. The lad scored the excellent record of 92 points. Jones, of North East Valley, was second with 89 points, and McKersey, of Denniston, thiijd with 87. The judge recommended a special certificate of merit to Depphoff, of Southland, who scored 86.

In the afternoon the. E flat, bass solos were played, when another Wonganui Garrison 'Band representative achieved a win, Signal, whi scored 83, beating Johnston, of the Wellington Garrison Band, by three points. ' The final tcjt selection, the concluding event of the contest, comprised the programme for tli evening. When Mellor, a mere boy in Knickerbockers, walked on the platform, he was greeted with a round of hearty applause.' He played "with remarkable coimdence and in an easy deliberate style; which gained him the immediate favoir of the audience, as weU as of the who, in his notes, praised his gocd tone and his brilliant work in tho variation. -"A very fine general performance," said Mr Ord Hume, "and certainly a ye.7 /hie soloist." When the result was announced, amid great applause, the boy, who was in the body of the hall, was seized and carried shoulder high, _ and brought up to be presented to the judge, who was greatly surprised on discovering the extreme youth of the player. "Well, this is a surprise to me," said Mr Ord Hume, as he shook hands cordially when the lad diffidently walked forward. The winner, who is only twelve years of age, is a son of Mr Thomas Mellor, of the Waihi Brass Band, Auckland, and was trained by his father first as a cornet player. Two medals" were gained by the lad* at New Plymouth last year. fie was born at NewtoVn, New South Wales, but came to this colony at an early age.