Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1924. ASHBURTON AND THE BAND

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLV, Issue 10279, 10 December 1924, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1924. ASHBURTON AND THE BAND

The public of Ashburton will receive with a good deal of regret the announcement that the First (Canterbury) Mounted Rifles' Band finds it impossible, for a variety of reasons, to .take part in the Nejv Zealand Bands' Contest to be held in Auckland shortly. Without doubt the decision has not been reached by Lieutenant W. H. Osborne and the members of the band without exploring all the possibilities. The decision will be keenly regretted by the players, among whom the competitive spirit is strong, and one can find it easy to sympathise with the men in their disappointment. The First (Canterbury) Mounted Rifles' Band has helped in no small way .to put the town of Ashburton "on the map," so to sp~>ak, and has, by sheer hard work and a most commendable enthusiasm/ made it a combination to be admired if not feared by its rivals in this Dominion. Much of the credit for this state of affairs must be ascribed to the conductor,, Lieutenant .Osborne. f He lias personally brought the Ashburton Band to a pitch, of high efficiency. A splendid instrumentalist himself, he possesses, too, all those qualities which make for successful conductorship. He thoroughly understands his subject, his interpretation of band music is high above the ordinary, and he has a happy knack of causing his men to respond to his temperament in a manner that is remarkable. Lieutenant Osborne is a bandmaster to be valued. It must be admitted, of course, that always has he found the bandsmen ready and willing to respond to his encouragement, and all working* together, in harmony of spirit and ambition as well as of instrumental tone, there has been produced for Ashburton a musical combination worthy of the highest honour the Dominion has to offer. The- reason the band is unable to visit Auckland is because it finds its strength impoverished. That is the chief reason. Since the last contest in Christchurch, eight men, whose places have been filled by recruits from the junior band, have left the town to go to employment elsewhere. And among the men remaining some are, for domestic or business reasons, unable to afford the time which would be taken up in a trip of some days' duration to Auckland. The Band have looked at the question from quite an altruistic point of view. The members acknowledge the splendid financial help the town has given on past occasions, and they feel that it would be hardly fair to make an appeal to the residents of the town on this occasion, for, possibly, a sum of £450 to send the band north, when as a combination they realise there is not much hope in its weakened state of reaching a high position in the award list. That is an excellent and unselfish way to regard the matter. It is stated that a number of members of the band are unable to find employment at the moment. It is quite clear that unless the citizens of Ashburton, particularly the employers of labour, are prepared to offer some sort of pre-j, 1

ference to bandsmen,-the hope will go of retaining a first-class band, up to contest form, in this town. However good an instrumentalist a man may be, he has got to live, and if he cannot find employment in Ashburton, he will naturally go where he can secure a position. In other towns the preference we speak of is given. The band exists primarily for the town, and the matter to which we have referred might justifiably be taken up by the Advance Ashburton Association. If that body could assist in keeping intact a first-class band here it would earn the thanks of the mu?ic-loving people of this district. Verb sap.