The Daily News. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1911. NEW ZEALAND COMPETITIONS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 119, 10 November 1911, Page 4

The Daily News. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1911. NEW ZEALAND COMPETITIONS.

belik. of such combinations as the Besses o' th* Barn Band and the Sheffield Choir • to prove that there is true artistic discrimination. He or she who has the artistic sense is in a fair way to be I an artist. It is hoped that the light | that may be shining under a bushel in !■ New Plymouth will yet be brought out, r and made to shine in competitions as > stirring and useful as those so success- ; fully inaugurated and carried out elseis where.

The Xew Zealand Competitions hold ill Wellington furnish a remarkable example of the growth of tlie artistic sense of tin* community. Those competitions have attracted hug,. crowds anil large numbers of competitors from all over the Dominion and from the Australian

States. The art of a people is fKe criterion of a people's power of initiative. Art so enters into the evervday life of a great people that its expression by every possible organised m.eans is ennobling and useful. If one is to believe the criticism of the judges and the newspapers who have , spoken and written of those competitions in the dramatic, musical and elocutionary arts, the competitors have attained a standard of excellence highly creditable to the people of Xew Zealand. Organised efforts such as these spur modest artistic violets to come from their retirement. t hoy rouse the spirit of emulation in our young folk and give the sincerest pleasure and profit to all. Although these competitions are possible urn! profitable in every town in Xew Zealand they are not as yet as general as their utilitv warrants. AVo claim

that there is a natural artistic element lying dormant in Xew Zealand which needs only the kind culture of the enthusiast to bring out. It would he quite possible for Xew Plymouth to hold-year-ly competitions sueli as Wellington is holding, and to achieve as great distinction. In a community peculiarly clannish. tin' succes> of *uch an tulioii would lie asMtred from the moment ul its inauguration. The spirit of rompetition in many lields of industry has become more apparent in Taranaki dill - ing the pa>t few years than ever before. The people with the nio-t utilitarian idea are fr.'(|iinitlv deeply artistic. Mild there U. we feci Mire. a field lying fallow in this province that is worth working. The competitions thai arc licld in other \cw Zealand centres have far greater iim's than the amusement of the public and the winning of recognition for competitors. They may dc| ermine careers, they are of high educational value, they are the greatest -ocial use. and they spur the emulative faculties of a whole community. That a busy people have ample time for the graces of life is proved at each of these recurring competitions, and they prove for one thing that the home life of the people, alleged liy so many to l)e absent in Xew Zealand, exists in a marked degree. Every competitor who sings, re-

sweets of tlic liivit kind of homo life, t Tlii' New Zcalandcr. so often accused J of a lack of artistic sense, is a most, discriminating critic. Xo pcopli; are so J quick to recognise real art from t.lie I [jinehheck and mechanical article. A great artist or a combination of artists are ahvays eagcrl y welcomed in this I country. We have only to mention the successes of Melba. Crosslev or Ku-