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Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 253, 24 March 1914, Page 4

[ HELP TIIE BAND. £ "In the good old days" New Plymouth £ had two excellent bands, the City Band, ■> a brass combination, and the Town I Hand, which played for us on rfted and J brass some of the finest concerted music 't that has ever been presented by a proi, vincial combination. Then one morn- £ ing a notification in the papers told of } the demise of the City Band, and the j> birth of the Taranaki Garrison Band, J which later on cast off even this highj sounding appellation and crashed into . the public gaze as the Regimental Band I of the XI. Regiment (Taranaki Rifles). ; The Town Band, why recall? Through • no lack of musical temperament on the ', part of its members, but because there I were no recruits for its ranks, it gradu- • ally withdrew itself from the public , gaze, ami long since ceased to exist. J The rivalry between the two instita- ; tions in the heyday of their strength , was good for both, and both held their ! annual concerts and other functions in order to "raise the wind." The holding of the first band contest bore gave the brass band a fillip, but gradually, owing to the too frequent changes in its personnel, and the loss of some excellent bandmasters, it lost its grip on the public. To-day the Band, as a musical combination, stands as high as ever it did, and the conductor must be complimented on the progress of his recruits. But finances have always been weak. Not long ago the Mayor called the citizens together to endeavor to give the band an assured finance. A Citizens' Committee was formed, and fortunately the services of Mr. R. 0. Ellis, himself an old bandsman, were secured as executive officer. That committee is behind the present Band Carnival, and must be congratulated upon the interest now being displayed by the public. Every night this week the carnival will be in full swing at the Theatre Royal. For a town to be without a strong brass band is a standing reproach to citizenship. For a combination of the musical standard of our band to be short of funds is directly a discredit to the musicians themselves, and indirectly a back-handed compliment to the people. No other organisation has

the same ready facility for an effective appeal for funds, and it is to be hoped that the present appeal to citizens will result in the purchase of the muchneeded new set of instruments for the bund and an added lustre to the fame of New Plymouth ere long as the home of one of the best brass bands in the Dominion.