SECOND EDITION Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1874] FRIDAY, SEPT. 28, 1894. THE MUSICAL FESTIVAL.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 48367, 28 September 1894, Page 2

SECOND EDITION Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1874] FRIDAY, SEPT. 28, 1894. THE MUSICAL FESTIVAL.

. Dcinxc the past six months thecreum of the musical world .in the Enipiro City have been engaged in .the active preparation of tlie programme of music of the highest class, which is to be presented to the public in the Opera House, Wellington, on five nights in next week, beginning on Monday with Mendelssohn's masterpiece, "'The Lobgesang," Tlie aim of the promoters' of this forthcoming musical carnival is as truly praiseworthy as it is ambitious. It will combino in ono series of grand concerts the works of the greatest amongst the old time composers, with the pick of the achievements of the ( most famed composers of the present day, And not only have they deter- | mined to do this, but they lmve lost ' no opportunity to have it done well. ' They liavespnrcdneithertime, talents ; or money, to ensure that the musical ! "Olympiad" of 1894 shall bo a triumph of art, and an event to be looked back ta with just pride. The j Wellington public, and indeed the < residents in all the large towns of' s this Colony have had more or less of a snrfeit of second-rate musical performances, In planning the programme for. this great festival, the promoters have been very wise in obtaining tho services of ladies and I gentlemen who are 111 the highest degree qualified for their respective J parts, This has hot been achieved without much anxiety and study. But we aro satisfied that the choice { has been well made, and that the a public's verdict will be in favour of p the arrangements made for their en- t joymeht, Such a festival would bo » impossible without a conductor of c known ability and experience. In P Mr Robert Parker, Wellington possesses a gentleman to whom the 11 musical world owes much, and whose c delight is to persevere with large ? undertakings of this kind, regardless of the wear and tear it entails on his own constitution, We aro to ?' hear that tins gentleman's efforts '

vi.MV vuio gcuuiomuua uiiui'lb have'been nobly seconded by tho musical people of the, Jimpiro City. During the whole of tho period this undertaking has been in course of preparation,- they have attended rigorously to their practices; the average attendance at practices having been 190 voices. The result is that the choruses•.will.be given with every attention to detail, Thus the chief beauties of-tho grand works of iMendelssohn, Haydn, Dvorak, Han-: del, Sullivan, Beethoven, Schumann, Greig and tho other authors whose gonis of composition are to bo produced, will be brought out as their desired them to be: .The Madameßnstowo,: of soprano.,of extreme .to is a tenor of

■■ siefc her in a Colonial tour- a couple of yoars ago, which in itself is a guarmi tee of Jiis capability; and we are to liavo Mv Jolin Pi'oiiße, who singing in oratorio isovoratreatto■■hear; In fact these four artistes may safely bo said to be " giants in -harmony, ' Tkero hover lias been such'' a combination of talent gathered together on any previous occasionin ■'Welling-. . ton, and we'very 'much doubt if v Australia has ever had so good and comprehensive a musical'gathering as this one promises to be. . The orchesti'ftl arrangements are as 'coni; plete as those for . 'the '-vocalisation. To gaiu the proper effect in the .".'■ The Golden Legend " the promoters have imported direct from j. Novello and Co., of London, a set of tubular bells specially made for this charming composition of Sir Arthur Sullivan s. Local talent is to .be represented on one night which has been set apart for it,and some ballad , music. Jlr A. I', Hill, R.A.M., .the rising young student recently from the Leipsio Consorvatonura of Music, has composed a very pretty piece entitled, "Time's Great Monotone," which lias been carefully rehearsed and will prove quite an attraction. , The programme and full particulars respecting tlieallotmeutof seats, etc., are published elsewhere and it is notified that the Railway authorities have made special concessions to enable visitors to attend' the festival at a minimum of cost. It therefore only behoves lovers of really good music .to back up the Herculean efforts of tlie promoters by attending in large numbers. In this respect we trust that the settlers in the Wairarapa will not be found wanting, but will give this praiseworthy undertaking a fair share of patron- . age. , ' . Tub Chairman of the Colonial • Bank has referred to tho last quarterly banking returns, and on this' basis brings his own institution out at the top, We liavo taken another ' test from the samo source, and our test brings it out at the bottom. Who is right,the Hon. Geo. McLean or ourselves? Wo would like to got at the bed rock in this matter, ' but who are wo that we should cast f a stone against a financial Goliath. " The following is the Hon. Geo.'Mcg Lean's test:— s 1 lie chairman said he had had some figures taken out'to show (he shareholders (ho position of the Colonial bank as compared with (hat of tlieotherbanks in the Colony. The shareholders would understand tliat the figures were the capital and the reserve fund put together awl taken in proportion to each ' bank's liabilities. The . Dank of New 3 South Wales proportion of capital and ; reserve fund to liabilities wasM; j the Union Hank, 1218; the Bank of ! Australasia, lo'G-1; the Bank of New Zealand, !hl3; the Colonial Hank, 17-33 ! —(applause)—and the National Bank ' 12*31. Those figures were taken from ! their own published balance-sheets. I If, said tlie Chairman, you take our position therefore as a matter of strength we are the strongest bnuk in the Colony. (Hear, hear.) ' The test we have applied is the ; proportion of coin to liabilities. This , gold aud silver asset is perhaps the i most reliable one in the balance _ sheets. We find that- on this basis the Banks take r;fnk in flip, fnllmv.

«uu jjiiuro i.imj ntiiK m uie iouoffing order:— 1 Bank of Australasia, 30 pel cent.. i Union Bank of Australasia, 2£ per cent, Bauk of New South Wales, 2E per cent. National Bank of New Zealand 20 per cent. Colonial Bank, 12 per cout. The Bank of New Zealand footed , the list in June lust, but its position has, of course, ken strengthened by the two million advance. IVe arc not financial experts, but we should like to know, from some competent authority whether the comnionsense view we have taken is not as trustworthy a guide as the responsible utterance of the Hoii, Geo. McLciui, Tub worm will turn at last ivhen trodden upon by an unlimited number of hungry swaggers, and the little incident in the S.M. Court yesterday was bound to occur sooner or later. The," swaggers ten " should give Ministers a turn now, as by the admission of one of their number, some of them have been five months on one beat. Let them travel south, haveanew round, say bed, breakfast, and tea with Mr Seddon on Monday; bod, breakfast, and tea with the Hon. Jock on Tuesdaybed,breakfast, and tea with the genial Reeves on Wednesday | bed,breakfast,and tea with the Treasurer ou Thursday; bed, breakfast, and tea with Justice Cadman on Friday; bed, breakfast, and tea with Mr Carroll on Saturday, and the same at Sir Patrick's mansion on Sunday, Then let them start again on Monday atMrSeddon's lodgings. Mr Seddon won't send for a Constable, nor will any of hiscolleagues! A thousand swaggers have done a good business touring the up country stations during, the past twelve months,TheCountryisgettingplayed out, and thoy should now give it . a rest for a time and open in the city. Do not tlioir best friends, Messrs Seddon and Co., live there, and why should they stay away from them,,