COMPETITIONS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1428, 1 May 1912, Page 5

COMPETITIONS.

ANNUAL MEETING OF THE SOCIETY SOME. CRITICISM, The annual meeting of tlio New Zealand Competitions Society was held in the office of Messrs. Ciualter, Dykes, ami Co. las!, evenint'. ])r. A. Jzard" occupied the chair. The annual report, after congratulating members on the success which marked uio nr.,t competitions, stated that (hero was ii net profit of .til 4s. 4d.-a highly satisfactory state of affairs, in view of the. initial expends last year. The largest item amongst the expenses was aUvertising—.£4os lijs. 9d. "Tin- experience gained by our first Festival will, we feel sure, prove of incalculable value. For instance, we find the season tickets were too cheap, ami tlio charge of fid. for both morning and afternoon session instead of that sum lor each session, p. mistake. . . . We have to congratulate ourselves on the huge success our Festival achieved from the spectators' and public's points of view, and tno iinrnionious manner in which the judges, the competitors, mid the management worked together, hi conclusion, we would fitale that the prospects of this year s Festival are particularly bright. A very comprehensive syllabus has been drawn up. A valuable .£125 Grand Chappoll Piano has been presented by Messrs. i , '. J. Pinny, Ltd." In moving the adoption of the report and balance-sheet the chairman congratulated members on their very successful first venture. It was true t'hat a great many people had asked what they were going to do with their lingo profits. As they could see by the balance-sheet the amount of tlio surplus was in the region of Jill, but they must remember that a good deal of ■ the expenditure was nonrecurring. What they had initially to contend with mid broik do™ was (he apathy of the public, who did not know what competitions were. They would have no trouble in that regard this year. They anticipated having a much larger loe.il entry and o great many more from the school children iti Wellington. TCo paid a tribute to Mr. C. K. Baoyerlz for the assistance ho gave in initiating the socictv; to Jtr. Scott Colvillc, of Auckland, for his services, and tlio accurate estimate he •had given of the expense; to Sir. J. Dykes (secretary) for his energy and persistence in tlio performance of his duties; to 1/r. Ronald Lyon, Mr. Dykes's "understudy," and to the press for the splendid articles they had given daily during tlio competitions. The motion to adopt the report and bamnce-slieet was seconded by Sir. D. M. Findlay, who thought the position was exceedingly satisfactory. He said that no society in Australasia had achieved such a result at first as this one had.

Mr. F. W. Haybittle said that last year ho had been present only as a spectator, and wliilo testifying to th« pleasure tho competitions had given him, offered a word of caution that any suggestion bearing on expenditure should have tho careful consideration of fiho executive. The competitions were a new thing last year, and everyone had rushed them, but they did not know whether they would <lo so again. The payments to judges, for instance, should be examined with a degree of caution.

Mr. George Winder thought that a very strong finance committee should bi> appointed. Ho noticed that the City Council had received tho lion's eharo of the profits. They might consider building a hail of their own, seeing that the nionev paid for the use of the Town Hal! lmil equalled interest at 5 per cent, on .CGOOO. It was entirely toe much, A. profit of -Ell was too little to show on a turnover of about ,£IGOO. Petty expenses, too, were altogether too high. Mr. Dykes (secretary) said that tho ccmmilteo was not a weak, point at all— he must object to that. It was Mr. Winder who had come, forward last yenr with the proposal to have a. Finance Ccmmittec, avid it was formed. No money had been paid awny without its approval. Any prize-money that was given did not pass through the books at ail. Mr. Winder still thought that they shruld be more careful in the future.

I Mr. Vv. A. Flave-11 (n member of rlio Finance Committee) said that he would liko to say that every item of any importance on tho baliiuee-shcet had been closely canvassed and discussed. Ho did not think it was possible- to run the competitions for uracil less than last year. They , might gain a little by rearranging the charges, but they must not be niggardly iu their expenditure. Mr. J. 1). Sievwright thought a word of praise should be given to' those who had ociitiibuted special prizes. Some gentlemen Si'omod to consider tho society as a joint stock company created to pay dividends. Their chief object was to mnko the competitions pay their way. The chairman said it had been decided to have an entire change of judges. This was not that they were dissatisfied with last year's judges, but they laid it down as a matter of policy to have different judges each year, so that a, competitor wiiM fancied he was not "getting a hearing" from ono judge would not lie deterred from trying again before another. Tho judges this year would be:—Elocution, Mr. J. F. Montague, of Auckland; music, Mr, Sidnev Wolff, of Dnncdin; literature, Mr. W. t. Ward, of Wellington. Tho competitions would comnienco on November 13, and it depended on the number of entries how long they would run. With regard to tho Town llnil charges, the City Council had n fixed price, and yon could take it or Jcavo it. It had, however, generously promised a grant of cEiifl towards the rent. He approved of Mr. Winder's suggestion that the society should have a finance committee having complete control over tho finances. They did not anticipate having to advertise anything liko so much tins year—they might Ix , able to effect ii saving of MW. lie did not liko to see so small a number in the society. ' Ho would like to sec hundreds of members. Ue thought that id. should be charged for both morning and afternoon sessions. There was no question that tho public had got wonderful value for their season tickets last year-somo statistician had worked it out to 2UI. per session. .

The report was adopted. Mr. J. M. Clark moved to niter Bule 4, reducing the number of the Executive Commit'oo from 27 to 12, mid that four be a quorum. An amendment was proposed 'that tho niimlwr of committcemen be IS, 7 to form a quorum, five members to retire cacli year. This was carried. On Mr. Clarke's motion, it was also decided that 15 form a quorum at an annual meeting of tho society. Mr. Clark nlso moved that the offices of secretary and treasurer bo combined, alleging that limo was lost by one having to chase the other round the town. The motion was adopted. The following officers were elected for the ensuinp year:—Patron, his Excellency tho Governor; president, Dr. Arnold Inrd: vice-presidents, Rev. Father JTiekson Messrs. D. M. Findlay, C. N. Baevertz and It. A tack; secretary and treasurer, Mr. J. Dykes; oommittoe. Messrs. It. A. Keennn, T. W'. Haybittle, G. Winder, W. A. Flavell, J. M. Geddi?, ,T. Helliwell. J. M. Clarke C. Cathie V. W. Brown, TTaer, I/>vvev, E. BlundcU. H. Plimmer. W. Fuller, liev. E. 0. Blamires. Trustees, Father Tfickron. Miw«.rs. TV" A Flavell. and W, R. Atack; auditor. Mr. Whitta Thornton. Votes of thanks wero passed- to Mr. C. N Bnovcrh, the City Council, and donors of'pnVe? the press, and the chairman.