BAND INSTRUMENTS FOR FORCES

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 86, 5 January 1940, Page 11

BAND INSTRUMENTS FOR FORCES

All Requirements Met

PURCHASE BY PATRIOTIC FUND BOARD

As the result of steps taken by the National Patriotic Fund organization, all the necessary band instruments have been obtained for the present establishment laid down for the New Zealand Expeditionary Force and also for the home service forces. This statement was made yesterday at a meeting of the camp cpmforts, conveniences and amenities committee of the National Patriotic Council by Mr. R. 11. Nimmo, who, with the co-operation of Mr. Har-

gest, M.P., was in charge of negotiations for the purchase of instruments. Though the instruments required have been obtained it has not

been possible to arrange for certain of the units of the first echelon to be equipped with bands. The remaining bands to go overseas are to be specially recruited and bandmasters appointed in sufficient time to enable them to leave’with the second echelon. Mr. Nimmo also stated that, following conferences with Major-General Freyberg. commander of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, an establishment of seven bands had been decided on. Three bands are to remain permanently in the camps in New Zealand and four bands are to proceed overseas, the plan being to have one band for each brigade and one baud for divisional troops, such as artillery, machinegun corps, and all the other units of a division.

The action taken by the National Patriotic Fund Board wa.s caused by the difficulty of obtaining full sets of instruments from the manufacturers overseas. Appeals were made to bands with instruments available to oft er them for sale, and Mr. Gladstone Hill was appointed to inspect such instruments and purchase them on behalf of the board. Recently he returned from the South Island, where he purchased 98 instruments, at a total cost, including a library of 60 pieces for three bands and the'estimated cost of repairs to certain of the instruments, of £774/10/-. Mr. Nimmo said that Mr. Hill had made a thorough job of the work allotted to him and had purchased the instruments on a remarkably sound basis. He also thanked Mr. I-largest for his co-operation and those who had made instruments available for purchase. “I feel that the job that has been carried out by the National Patriotic Fund Board,” added Mr. Nimmo, “has been a worthwhile contribution and a timely one, inasmuch as we have all the necessary equipment in band instruments for the present establishment. Generally speaking the instruments have been purchased at somewhere in the vicinity of 65 per cent, less than the original cost price, and, according to.the price of the band instruments I inspected in Wellington prior to Purchase, I have no hesitation in stating that we have secured instruments at an exceptionally low figure.”