"AND THEN THE BAND PLAYED."

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 252, 23 October 1936, Page 6

"AND THEN THE BAND PLAYED."

To me, a resident of Xew Lynn living within earshot of the township, has just come the distressing news that the Borough Council intends to have a bandstand built on the triangle near the main street. A bandstand, I greatly fear, implies a brass band, and it is thin that is causing me so much misgiving. Is Sunday, still a day of comparative quiet in the district, to be delivered over, gagged and bound, into tdie hands of 'barbarians with weapons of brass? Are the long summer evenings to be made hideous with the bleating and blaring and clanging of a brass band (probably playing out of tune) ? People who wish to commit nuisances should do so aa privately as possible—not choose the centre of a township as a location. If there is a band in the district that wishes to play, let it do so 011 enclosed premises, or go to some lonely spot far from the homes of men. To~ force* itself 011 the attention of everybody within a radius of two miles, in a suburban area, is to commit an anti-social act that is only made the worse by the active connivance of * the local authority. Has the Borougli Council consulted the residents of the district about it? I am sure I cannot be alone in regarding the sound of a brass band as one of "the most vulgar and distressful noises ever devised for the discomfort of the human ear. And it is a nuisance one cannot escape from. There is another aspect of the matter. Th« township of New Lynn lacks even such a simple amenity, as a. ladies' and children's lavatory. The roads in the district are in bad repair: the strip of clay and grass that does duty as a footpath outside my gate, _ for instance, lias not been attended to within living memory. Yet it is proposed to spend money on (of all tilings!) a bandstand. My protest, I am afraid, will not count for mucli —it is of little use trying to make oneself heard against a brass band —but, for what it is worth, I should like to put it on record. A. R. D. FAIRBURy.