IMPORT LICENCES FOR PIANOS

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26039, 16 February 1950, Page 3

IMPORT LICENCES FOR PIANOS

INCREASE SOUGHT BY TRADERS

The greatly increased demand for pianos could not be met from the present meagre import licences, which for years had touched only the fringe of the public’s requirements, said the president (Mr R. H. Nimmo. of Wellington) in his address to thQ third annual meeting of the Associated Piano and Music Traders of New Zealand, Inc., which was concluded yesterday. It was no credit to New Zealand during times of such unqualified prosperity that the people should' be deprived by any Government of such a ■ cultural necessity as a piano in the home, while other parts of the Empire had been receiving for years • generous import licences from the! United Kingdom. Mr Nimmo said. The : association looked with confidence to • a ready and sympathetic appreciation by the Government of the musical reauirements of the public, and hoped that the position would be rectified at an early date. The supply of secondhand pianos was practically exhausted, and in any case the prices for these pianos could no longer be sustained against the quality and value of the new instruments now available for export from Britain, as and when the necessary licences were granted. The election of officers resulted: — President, Mr R. H. Nimmo, of Wellington (re-elected); vice-president, Mr R. Walls (Dunedin); executive, Messrs E. Gilbert (Wanganui), K. Markby<(Christchurch). G. Crisp (Gisborne). *L. A. Eady (ex officio), and E. R. Eady (both of Auckland); secretary, Mr H. B. Wilson (Auckland, reelected). ’ It was decided to hold the nextannual conference in Dunedin in February, 195 L