LIFE'S REWARDS

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 93, 16 October 1940, Page 4

LIFE'S REWARDS

STRIKING ANOMALIES

A MUSICIAN'S TALK

Had Dr. Edgar Ford, F.R.C.0., when he addressed members of the Rotary Club yesterday been preaching a sermon, a very suitable text for his address would have been "The labourer is worthy of his hire." But it was not a sermon which he delivered, only an amusing talk in which he called attention to the anomalies in the rewards meted out to workers in various spheres of life. Gone, he said, was what was to be seen everywhere in France until recently—the motto "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity," but in due time the .first and last might be restored, he hoped.

"I am not a Communist, and only a Socialist in the sense that I feel every man should be given an opportunity to do his best work for the benefit of his fellows, but equality, in any other sense than that everyone should be equal before the law, is hardly worth speaking of, as in the whole universe there is no such thing as equality," he said. "No two trees, no two animals, no two human bodies or human minds are equal, but the inequality is surely not quite what it would appear when we look round at our fellows —at their accomplishments and their varied incomes. Shirley Temple, a little Hollywood child screen actress, receives about £120,000 a year; the Archbishop of Canterbury, £15,000 and two palaces; the Prime Minister of England, £5000; and.the Poet Laureate £100 a year and a cask of canary.

"In the world of music, actual and so-called, we hear of similar anomalies. The originator of 'Yes, We Have No Bananas,' is said to have received no "less a sum than £20,000 in royalties, while Sir Edward Elgar received less than £25 a year in royalties from his 'Dream of Gerontius,' one of the greatest works of all time. The same composer is said to have received £1 for his delightful 'Salut d'Amour,' while the publishers must have made thousands out of the piece.

"Not so long ago the only people who could afford to have their children taught were the well-to-do. That was probably the reason, in some measure, for the fact that music in England fell to such a low ebb during the last century. Nothing but foreign music and musicians were to be tolerated. But good came out of evil, and the grounding that musical folk in England had of every school of composition but English laid a foundation for the present British school, which is probably the first in the world today."

"In New Zealand class barriers such as existed in England have been practically unknown," concluded Dr. Ford. "This, in many ways, has been a distinct gain, for it has been possible for children of the people of every walk of life to enjoy the same musical training, albeit of a somewhat restricted type. They have been taught to play and sing, but have had very little experience of the highest form of music, the orchestra. This I hope may be made possible in the near future, for it alone can provide the wide cultural background which the musical gifts of the people of this country merit."