A CHORAL HALL.
' *TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEW ZEALAND TIMES. . Sir, —One of your contemporaries a few days since seemed to be considerably exercised and agitated at the idea of the Choral Society applying to the Corporation for a lease or grant for a site for a Choral Hall, I presume it will be conceded that Wellington, from her central position, being the seat of Government, the residence o! the Governor, and from numerous other peculiar advantages, expects to be, if not the largest, the most important centre of population in New Zealand. If so, X think it becomes the interest of 1 every citizen to see that every effort is made not only that she should occupy such' a position, but that she should be worthy of it; and as the population has nearly trebled itself during the last ten or twelve years, it behoves us to keep pace with the spirit of the times. I think it therefore desirable to lay before the public a statement of the.requirements of the society, together with their reasons for making the application. It is, I believe, proposed to ask the Corporation for a grant or lease of a section of land sufficiently large to enable the society to erect thereon a building capable of accommodating fifteen hundred persons. This hall would be suitable for meetings, political or otherwise, festive gatherings, &c., &c., and would, I think, be a great boon to this city, where at present there is no chamber, of sufficient dimensions to contain anything like that number. The reasons for supposing that this ‘application is by no means so extravagant are as follows Some six years ago the Public Hall . Company obtained from the Corporation a lease of eight sectiohs of land in the very heart of the city, comprising a frontage of one hundred and fifty-seveu feet to Johnstou-street, ninetyeight feet to Lambton-quay, and sixty-five feet to Waring. Taylor-street. The concession granted by the Corporation was this : that the company should pay a rental of £l5O 11s. for twenty-one years, with the option of a renewal for a further twenty-one years, without any increase in the rental, all other tenants being subject to this increase in a certain ratio. Without this concession I think it would have been a very long time before Wellington would have possessed a theatre. Another example : The young men of Wellington were granted a site whereon to erect a. gymnasium rent free, the only stipulation being that should the matter fall through at any future time the site was to revert to the Corporation, on their paying a fair value for auy buildings that might have been erected thereon. I could adduce other instances (such as the grant to the Freemasons), but I think these two examples are sufficient to prove my argument, that the hope of the Choral Society that their request will receive the most favorable consideration at the hands of the Corporation, is not wild and chimerical. • But apart from this, the Choral Society is, I presume, a requirement of Wellington civilisation. If not, why continue it ? I don’t sup-pose-any one of the baud or vocalists is anxious to carry it on in the face of public opinion; but as the public choose to subscribe to it, and throng as they always do to its concerts, I think I am right in saying it is an institution the public would be sorry to lose. There is, however, still another point of view, from which to look at this matter. May it not be considered in the light of an educational institution, where . the most- glorious music of the past and present is made familiar to and performed by the wives, daughters, and citizens of Wellington ? Is not this something to achieve ? ; Is, not the cultivation of good music recognised as one of the principal means of civilisation of the present age ?. Look at the popular concerts at the. Athenaeum. Are they not well attended ? And is -not this in itself an evidence of the’ taste of the general public I Is there any science so refining in its influence as good music, or so calculated to produce the best effects for tlie happiness of the community ? Why, even the natives are continually sending for pianos and harmoniums, in'order that their children may receive the benefits of musical tuition. . I therefore confidently appeal to the citizens to aid the Choral'Society in their endeavors to carry out to a successful issue this, project for the erection of a Choral Hall worthy of this, city and its magnificent future.—l am, &c.» Richard Effingham Plimpton. Taranaki-street, July 24.
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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5406, 25 July 1878, Page 2
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775A CHORAL HALL. New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5406, 25 July 1878, Page 2
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