MUSICIANS IN CONFERENCE.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 13333, 27 January 1909, Page 6

MUSICIANS IN CONFERENCE.

Tho professional musicians of New Zealand appear to havo lost nono of their antagonism to tho proposal to establish a Coneervatorium of Music in. tho Dominion. At tho conference nowbeing held at Auckland, a motion declaring that tho est—hLLshment of such an- institution would' bo premature was carried by eleven votes to one, tho leader of the attack being Mr Hirschburg, of Christchurch. We must confess that the arguments employed) by the opponents of the scheme do* not strike us as being very happy or cogent. Tbe comparative scantiness of our population and tho isolation of tlie Dominion from tho great art centres, are reasons why the Conservatorium might not be an immediate financial or artistic success, but aro they reasons for not making the experiment? Tho fact tbat it takes a Conservatorium many years to develop into a centre of musical light and learning is surely no argument for postponing its establishment here for an, indefinite number of years. The President of the Conference declared that "the time was not "yet ripe" for a Conservatorium. That wet-blanket of a phraso has been thrown at probably every progressive movement initiatod in tl>e country for the past fifty yeans, and it is time it was laid aside. If we had always waited until tho time had been "ripe" to do anything, wo should 6till bo in the V hut and bullock waggon stage of development. It has only been by doing things before the time was "ripe." by the exercise of some enterprise, not a little imagination, and a good deal of justifiable conndenco in ourselves, that New Zealand is what it is to-day. The obnoxious phrase is, we aQiriit, sometimes justified by circumstances, but usually to declare that a proposal is premature, to appeal for its postponement until, at some -undefined stage, a sufficient degrfso of "ripeness" is reached, is —10 refuge of tlie timid or tho excuse of those who wish, for some unspecified reason, to keep things as they aro. Tho opponents of a Conservatorium may havo better arguments against tho proposal, but if so, they should let the public httve the benefit of them.