THE BELGIAN APPEAL

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2397, 1 March 1915, Page 6

THE BELGIAN APPEAL

PRIME MINISTER'S INQUIRY NO REPLY YET The Prime Minister had received no reply last night to. his inquiry from the Home Government concerning tho appeal made last week for assistance to the suffering Belgians. In reply to a question, Mr. Massey made this statement: "We do not need to consuit Parliament before making a grant to the Belgian Fund if we should decide to make one. The Government of the day has quite sufficient authority, to make' the . necessary contribution. As I have already indicated, we forwarded £20,000 to tho Belgians somo time ago, and we are still prepared to do our duty by them. We are prepared to do all we believe to be right so long as we are assured by the imperial Government that the money is sure* to reach, those for whom it is intended, and that there is no danger of its falling into the hands of the enomy."LOCAL EFFORTS

CAMPAIGN BY MUSICIANS. It is expected that much public interest ivill ,bo aroused, and that the fund in aid of the brave and unforturiato Belgians will be materially benefited by. the project of the local orchestral musicians to tour the principal streets of the city on Thursday next with; an orchestra of forty players, accompanied by collectors. The city's leading players , have been approached, and each has promised his support to the movement, and the whole is .under the patronage of His Worship tho Mayor and Mrs. Luke. . Selections embracing both the classic and patriotic will be rendered en route, and a. musical treat such as is rarely heard in Wellington streets is promised. A TINY PATRIOT'S GIFT

SCENE AT THE GRAND OPERA : HOUSE. . There was an exhilarating scene at the end of the performance of "Tho' Seven Little Australians" on Saturday evening. After the tag had been, spoken; Mr. Harrington Reynolds camo forward, and explained that a very heroic and self-sacrificing little boy had coino forward to do what he could to help tho starving people in Belgium. Ibis little boy ,■ Master Leslie _Parton, had a kind mother,: who had made him a very beautiful cake for his birthday, but the boy,,,iu the very best spirit, had asked that the cake be sold in aid of the Belgians, and pleasure in acting as auctioneer—how much for, the,beautiful iced cake? He would start it at half a guinea himself. ; From that the bidding rose in half-guineas and guineas, until it was finally knocked down, to 'Sir J. G. Ward for £6 65., who returned the cake" to the'tiny patriot. It is understood, however, that the boy insists on; selling the cake outright for the benefit of the fund, and maybe the public will hear something further, of it. As evidence -of the state of mind in which the public is just .at present, Mr. , Reynolds had not commenced' to speak before coins were falling on the stage in a shower, and these wonld have continued to fall for much longer had not Mr. Reynolds come forward to read a cable message detailing a Russian success. After :■ that little Miss Cecil' Haines was persuaded to recite Harold Heebie's stirring lines' "The Handy Man." which-were declaimed with fine elocutionary skill by" the little girl, and earned her the hearty applause of a delighted audience. The amount collected on the stage was £7 17s. 6d., making a total of . £14 3s. 6d. (By Teleeraxili—Press ' Association.! : Foxton, February 27. At a public meeting-last night a resolution was passed .urging the Government, for the purpose of providing Dominion relief for the Belgians, to introduce legislation increasing the land and income tax, ■ and to establish an equity able fund for that purpose. The meeting decided to furnish suggested reasons for such legislation & the. Prime Minister.. "LET THEM BE DAMNED!" METHODIST MINISTER ON GERMN TRICKERY. ByTeleerapb—Prees Association—Oopyrietrt, Melbourne, February 26. The' Methodist Conference discussed the' Belgian appeal. Several of the speakers feared that the Germans might confiscate the money sent for the Belgians, whereupon the Rev. Cox exclaimed: "If the Germans should do so; let them bo_damnedl" • The interjection was loudly cheered, and so carried the conference that £263 was subscribed to the fund in ten minute.!", '' ' TO UNIONISTS

AN APPEAL FROM HOLLAND. '■ A pathetic appeal for funds to assist the starving Belgian workers has been received by Mr. J. R-eid, secretary of the United Federation of Labour', from the Nederlandsch Verbond Van Vakvereenigingen (Dutch Federation of Trade Unions). The letter is dated Amsterdam, December, 1914, and is ad--dressed to the "Trade Union National Centres." It runs:—"Dear Sirs and' Brothers,—lt is more than four months now since the Belgian people were, against their own will, forced,to ■> take part in this war, which has set aflame the larger part of Europe. ■ For more than four months this war, with all its horrors, has completely paralysed the economic life of .that little country, plunging tho whole population, and especially the working classes, into the most pitiful misery. It will scarcely be necessary to explain to you in detail the general conditions in a country so ravaged by war. You have, no doubt, learned this from the daily Press of your, own country. It appears necessary, however, to call your attention •to the consequences this war has had for the Belgian labouring classes. Work had been stopped in all factories and workshops the first day hostilities commenced, condemning the employees who were not called' .upon to defend their country, to the terrible conscqusuces of complete unemployment. "One part of the country after the other has been conquered and occupied by the German troops. Wherever bat--1 ties and other military engagements took place the inhabitants had to leave their dwellings, fleeing to some other city or to some other part of the country, under continual fear that tliey might soon- be compelled to flee anew to some new place of refuge. "It 'will be easily understood that under such ' circumstances unemployment has developed to such an extent that the trade unions are powerless and unable to effectively fight the miseries 'accruing therefrom. Everything possible has been suggested and done by all public boards where tho workers are represented, with a view or providing for the maintenance of this unhappy, semi-starved, population. Food has been distributed on a very modest scale, and onco in a while, money as well. All this, however, is in now way sufficient tp keep the their wives, and children alive. Extreme misery prevails all round, and this threatens to become more acuto witli the approaching winder. "Tho Belgian trade unions have used every possible means to save their organisations from destruction, and to support their members during those i trade moments; but tbore jb a limit to

everything, and the means at the disposal of the Belgian trades unions are entirely exhausted. The National Centre of the Trades Unions of Holland (the Nederlaudsch Verbond Van Yakvereenigingen), after thorough examination of this sad state of affairs, has decided 1 . to issue an urgent appeal for help on behalf of tho Belgian fellowworkers. Wo have been communicating with the, management of tho Interna/tional Federation of Trade Unions (President Carl Legion, in Berlin),, whom we informed of our intention. Whereupon we received an immediate . reply that he had taken notice of our plan. "We now approach your organisation, dears sirs and brothers, praying that you might render whatever help you can to the Belgian unions who at tho present momont are undergoing the most serious and sinister trial. Will you kindly take cognisance of the fact that our Belgian friends have been brought to these trying conditions without any fault of their own, and wo are convinced that you will do everything within your power to render practical help to the Belgian working - class, which desires nothing else but to be permitted to continue quietly their efforts for the improvement of their economic conditions and their struggle for social liberation. "Will you kindly forward your contributions' as early as possible to tho above address, to be sent to the Belgian trade union centre from here. Let us express our sincere thanks in advance for all you can do. ' • Awaiting your reply, we' beg to remain yours fraternally, on behalf of tho Dutch Trade Union Centre (Signed) J. Oudegeest-, President."

Contributions to ■ tho fund for the relief of the Belgians in distress will subsequently be forwarded to the authorities in Belgium for distribution :r— . ! < £ s. d. Previously acknowledged ...8,061 17 1 Mrs. Cowan, sale of milk (monthly instalment).....,. 11 11 11 W. Johnston 5 0 0 Proceeds of sheep-guessing competition, promoted by the Hukanui Picnic SportsClub (per W. 0. Twentyman, secretary) 3 17 0 Ruth M. White 3 0 0 H v Davidson 2 10 0 Miss Phipps Williams, Sayes Court 2 2 0 X 1 10 0 Peggy Partridge 1 I 0 Willie Levin 10 6 i Dorothy Levin 1 0 0 W.E.G. 1 0 0 Mrs. A. H. Barker 10 0 Total ..-...: 18,096 19 6 MAYOR'S NEW FUND. £ s. d. .Tohn P. Luke 10 0 0 John Nicol \ 10 0 0 W. A. Chote 1 6 0 Total ..1... 25 5 0

MISS RENE QUEREE

"». V . MADAME CARRENO'S FAVOURITE I'UJfIL. It is absolutely essential for artists of ambitiou to beep well .ivitliiii tlic range of the public oye, if they would be remembered. Artists come and artists go, leaving more or less deop impressions behind tliem, but how few of them are forcefully remembered without an effort. Wellington has not had timo to forget its clever daughter, Miss Rene yuereo, 1 who, when playing hero a few years back, gave 6uch brilliant promise as a pianist on her return to Wellington from Melbourne, where she had studied with Edouard' Scharf at the Marshall Hall Conservatoire. It remained for a musical greatness to realise that here was a girl with talent far abovo the ordinary, and with, imagination 1 * and temperament—essential qualities—to lift her to the artistic heights. That greatness was Carreno —queen of 'all living pianists. She it was who offered with charming spontaneity to teach the" youthful Rime, an offer which meant as much to the little lady, coming from one of such dazzling eminence in the musical world, as the conferring of ail honour by a liing upon a subject. It was not until two years later that Miss Queree, was in a position to accept the invitation, but thanks to a generous public she was able to go Homo in. 1912, and by the greatest good fortune discovered Carreno in London, whereas she oxpected to havo to travel to Berlin to find her.

"Oarreno was playing at concerts with Sir Henry Wood's orchestra," say 6 Miss Queree, "and all London was at ••'her feet. Oh,. you cannot imagine what her position is there. It was like a football match to get in, and they Tiad to turn:,'out the lights 'before they could get the great audience to. leave. They were simply crazy with enthusiasm. 1 wanted to go behind to see Madame, but they wouldn't let me, and I was feeling very much inclined to cry when I saw M. Tagliapietra (Madame's husband), and told him iny trouble. 'You must oome at once,' said ..he, and I'went. There was Madame,- the centre of an admiring circle, and-- there was poor little me. As 6oon as she saw me 6he came forward and said: 'My dear, dear child — lam glad to see you!' From that out she was kindness itself. I went home with her to Berlin, and there she taught me how to play —lifted the scales from my eyes, and. made me 6ee. Her method is simply wonderful. You have heard her, and know. She never tires—that is the wonderful thing about Carreno's method—it invigorates and strengthens. The use of the fingers and the hands is far from everything in piano-playing. Madame's great power is not only derived from her fingers and wrists, b\it she exerts muscles at the back of the shoulders. That accounts, not only for her power, hut her amazing freedom of action, and the fact that she is as fresh at the conclusion of a recital as she is at the commencement.

"My lessons with her were not bound by the clock—we just played and studied as long as we felt disposed. And then I went with her in the summer to her charming chateau at Grindelwald, in Switzerland, away up among the towering mountains, often with the clouds of earth below "us. Madame is i'ond of the mountains—the higher the better. And so'it was in Bavaria, where we most delightful time, and met lots of interesting people. So you can imagine how grateful I am for the opportunity I was given to be so closely associated with Madamo. And when I finally left Carreno, wire was going to America, she told me that I needed no other teachors—my technic was perfect—and my best teacher would bo the public. I would like to Bay that the'Carreno method precludes all possibility of anything in the nature of what is commonly called 'pianist' 6; cr;r?np.' Those who suffer from such a thing have adopted a wrong mothod, and I have trained myself so in her method that I am able to detect what is inporrect in a pianist's method, i'owcr must be exerted' with absolute naturalness to obtain beauty of tone. Carreno is one of the great ones— others I have heard are D'Albert, KusOni, Lamonde (who died last year), Harold Bauer, and Pugni, the famous Mozart player. But to me thero is only the one Carreno—she is always in huge mood, always magnificent. In studying the Chopin "Tarantelle" I have known her to dance about the room to get the spirit of the music into ine." Miss Queree'e recital on March 11 at the Concert Chamber will illustrate the ndvanco she has made in her art. (Schumann, Bach, Chopin, Liszt, and Groig -will be represented, hut mostly on the lighter sido 'of those composers' n:oods. Miss Queree is including nothing tedious or heavy, and thereby hopes that nhc is cnncwliug a little to time tint bones tajaleafieu,,