THE BAND TROUBLE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 129, 24 October 1914, Page 6

THE BAND TROUBLE.

ARBITRATION MEETING. A meeting of the special committee aopointed to arbitrate in the New Plymonth Citizens' Band deadlock was held at the County ofl'ioa on Thursday night, there .being present: His Worship the Mayor, Messrs* Bradbury, F. Belhinger, S. W. Shaw, and VV. Brooking. The citizens' committee were represented by Messrs It. Ellis, G. W. Browne, and G. Tabor.

Tho band was represented !by Messrs F. Coleman, W. Coulthard, W. Pellew, P. Brookes, and J. Jenkins.

Messrs Sykes, Lister and E. Sole, together with several bandsmen, were also present.

The Mayor was called ninon to preside, and after reading the letters from the band and citizens' commilaee agreeing to abide by the decision of the arbitration commLtee, His' Worship said that it was hoped a satisfactory conclusion ot tho deadlock would b.. arrived at. Mr. Browne road a statement giving details of whai, had transpired in rela-

lion to the citizens' couuiuiltoe taking owr the band and ihe proposed appointment of a first-class conductor, and giving the reasons for the latter, lie also gave, a statement of receipts and expenses.' 'When tho cilizens' committee tooic over the oahd.. there was a lia'bil.t., of which £BO had been paid 0.. and £4l) now remained. Tile committee had paid the bandsmen for all their lost dine when nlaymg at engiireancnts, SO ..ha-t there had fcecn no hardship -on the men as far as tiie commictrc were concerned. He contended that the action of

the committee hail been entirely in the best interests of the town, and they would loyally carry out the decision of the arbitrators. in reply to tho chairman Mr Coleman said tho 'band was originally a friendly societies' .band but could not carry on amd was renamed tho City Band, it he incumbers managing a'he bands affairs, oubsquentiy the band 'became a regimental 'band attaeiicd to tlie 4th battal.on. Mr. Browne staled that 'the transfer to the citizens' committee was made with the consent of the band and was | the outcome of a nublic meeting when | tiie. cL.i/.cns committee was ti'ioointeu.

In reply to the Mayor, jlr. Browne stated that it was intended to dispose of Jie ini'ouey in the citizens' committee's hands 'by purehits.ng new iiis;ruin;ints, umloniis and general management expenses. That wa.'. the object for which the money was raised by the Carnival and bazaars.

| in riply to Mr Shaw, it was state.l ! that the only matter in dispute between ;tho commitee and tlie Band wits the appointment of a conductor in consequence of complaints by the public as to the quality of the music given. .Mr Ellis said that right through up to the time of the Committee's proposal to raise the grade of the conductor, everything worked harmoniously. No exp.ana lion had been given wdiy. the Band would not play under, a first-class conductor.

Mr Tabor said he wanted to see the Band reorganised as a military Band,

and Mr Cummins considered that was impossible. Mr Shaw: We may take it that the Citizens' Committee was not satisfied with the eiliciency of the conductor. Mr E.lis: We thought it advisable lo get a lirstelass conductor, and were of opinion ,that by paying £l5O a year jnstead of £75, a higher grade conductor would be obtained. There was nothing at all against Mr Cummins personally.

Mr Shaw: Had the conductor received any ollicial intimation that a new conductor was about to the engaged?

Mr Ellis: No. The matter was mentioned in the press. The conductor was notified officially at the termination of his engagement. He was asked to tender his resignation. Mr Coleman then gave an outline of the Band's" attitude. They did not think the Citizens' Committee was set up to control the musical affairs of tlie band, but that they were a business committee. That opinion was held by two of the Citizenis' Committee, and was justified by the fifth recommendation when the committee was appointed. The chairman of the commitee had expressed an opinion to tho speaker that any proposal for a change should first .-•ome I'r-.'in tile band. During the whole tim.» the hand had been unanimous in their altitude. He pointed out that it wo lid probably be found that the bulk of the receipts outside the carnival had been earned by tin; band. He quoted from previous years' ba'ance-sheets to shovi how largely the members of the baud had contributid by their own efforts. He admitted tlie band was in financial difficulties, but the assets showed a surrjlus of £>[). To the best of bid knowledge tho band had made no threat !.o resign. He quoted the remarks made br Mr Browne praising the band for the position they took at the Auckland contest.

Mr Browne admitted making the remarks, but he said be was quite unaware at the time that the 'baud had taken to Auckland the bandmaster ami two members of the Waitura Band, mi that if they had won tho contest they would ,'havu done oo under false pretences.

Mr Coleman referred to the other performances of the Band which had been most creditab'e. Out of the 20 members of the band, nine were pupils of Mr Cummins. Tho true reason why the band refused to bo a regimental band was that the authorities refused to recognise a civilian body. It was not the conductor's fault tha!| the band did not turn out last Xmas, tho reason being that there were not players available. He still did not think it possible to run a mi'itary band at New Plymouth.

Mr Shaw: It was not only possible, but was an actual fact thirty years ago.-' The band considered that their conductor was entitled to three months' notice of dismissal, in accord with the terms of his engagement, which was made on the strong recommendation of Lieut. Heard. Jn reply to Mr Brooking as to why the'band decided to disband, Mr Coleman said tho members were paying for their musie out of their own 'pockets, that came too hard on some of the members. Moreover, they wanted to bring matters to a head.

In reply to the Mayor Mr Coleman said that many of the instrument* were not of a class that an A grade band would play. Mr I!rown«: It was proposed to furnish the band with a new set of instruments of ona maker. Mr Coleman saJd that the band lacked instrumentalists more than instrument*. He would not say Mr Cummins got the best out of the men. He considered Mr Cununina was a fhstcl&ss conductor. It was entirely wrong to say that there was a lack of discipline. The conductor had been very unfortunate losing good players who were offered inducement elsewhere. Thore were 24 or 25 players w&en the disbandmeait took place. Mr .Sha.w: Have you any suggestions as to improving :the band? JAr Coleman: Jho purchase of new> j.-6trumenta, -And b«ng a .'■

chance under tho '-it- . band wanted the, op.c.vi. ~;' :■■„■ e,.i,f,.,-. enoo as to whether ■:. ' e ■;:.,' c ~,u mittee were empowered u ici i ; ,t. with tho musical affairs of tiie ban i, ifr Braiibuvy: That is the i,;-.-; of the matter. In reply to tho Ma,,or, so-m-' oi the bandsmen said there was no ,-M.ip'aint against tho band while, in camp. Mr Coleman did not state whether hie Band would form part of a military hand or not. The hand at a meeting on Monday night had practically decided io reform. Some discussion ensued as to whether the band would undertake to give the arbitrators' recommendations .a fair trial for six or twoivj months, the Mayor considering that an undertaking to that effect should be given. Mr Browne explained that the terms of Mr Cummins' engagement were only known to him that night, and that had the committee been aware of the provision for three months' notice it would have acted upon it. v Considerable discussion took pace as to what was intended in handing over to the Citizens' Committee the management of tho Band, and whether or not it included control of the musical affairs, the band representatives contending that the committee was merely for business purposes.

This closed tho enquiry, and the Arbitration Committee will now consider their report.