THAMES SCOTTISH BAND.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3104, 29 January 1879, Page 2

THAMES SCOTTISH BAND.

. (To the Editor of the Evening Star.) - Sis,—A paragraph in the Evening Star of the 21st insfc calls for some notice at our hands. Referring to the Band of the Thames Scottish Battalion, the writer chooses to make certain state* ments which are as groundless as they are malicious. The bills rendered by the Secretary of the Band are stated to amount to £25 for the two occasions of the Railway Demonstration and the Macandrew Banquet. We regret the writer should hare omitted to state, that when exception was taken to the amount as rendered, the sum of £9 was deducted therefrom, leaving £16 as the balance. It must be recollected, moreover, that even harmony has its.price nowadays, since the Band of the Thames Scottish is composed of individuals who cannot give the time from daily work unless a corresponding compensation be offered. It is but right, then, that a fair price should be demanded in these circumstances, for. the services of the Band, and the amount asked here is, we think, in every way reasonable. The writer of the paragraph has likewise a fine, fresh imagination when he states that a Shortland hostelry was stuck up and driik. consumed to the worth of £3 11s, a sum yet to be settled. This we emphatically deny, and ask the name of the hotel. His imagination, however, is vastly in advance of his grammar, and we would beg to refer him to one of the initial rules in Lindley Murray, that a nominative plural requires a plural verb. We like* wise wonder how many square yards of harmony were obtained for the sum named, not was as the writer has it. We entirely agree with him that he should leave joking aside since it is entirely out of place when substituted for facts, but if . we must also attempt to joke, infected by the example of the writer,' it would resolve itself into the rather grim question —Who is to pay for the banquet as it stands, and for the cigars ad libitum consumed by the guests? Probably to some' extent the very men who have been made the victims of so ill-natured an attack as that appearing in the Star of the 21st inst. We say no more but leave facts to speak for themselves.

One op thb Thames Scottish Band. ["One of the Thames Scottish Band," while asserting that the statements in the Star regarding the Baud's excessive claim on the Demonstration Committee " are as groundless as they are malicious," tacitly admits the truth of the statement as to the charge. The reductiejr#6m £25 to £16 was also an. admission oirthe part of the band that the charge was exorbitant. As to the hotel keeper's .account for £3 11s, the Committee kave had the claim made upon them; the Scottish band know the name of ~ the hotel, and the pretence that they are ignorant of the fact is too shallow. Moreover, a distinct agreement wai made by the Committee with the band* master, and to that agreement the Committee should adhere, the rules of the Thames Scottish Band to the contrary notwithstanding; The assertion that the notice of this wretched business was actuated by malice is too contemptible for further notice.—Ed.]