BAND ROTUNDAS

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 35, 10 August 1933, Page 10

BAND ROTUNDAS

BUT NO BANDS PLAYING

BOXES WHICH MUST NOT RATTLE

TiCi'eicrice fo tho absence of band recitals at Island Bay as a result of the City Council's decision not to grant the annual subsidy of £250 to tho Wellington bands, was'inadc at the annual meeting of the Island Bay Municipal Electors* Association last ingThe chairman, Mr. C. F. Lcthaby, said that three-fourths of tho cost of tho band rotunda'at Island Bay had been subscribed by residents of tho district, and in consequence of tho council's action tho bands no longer made use df it. The value of tho band rotundas around Wellington would probably run into thousands of pounds, but they were all lying idle. The rotundas would- be better earning something than.nothing. If the bands were not playing at the various rotundas it would account to somo extent for the falling off in the cash receipts of the Tramways Department on Sundays. If the bands were playing at the various beaches and in the gardens there would bo more incentive to tho public to go to those places. , In addition to withdrawing the subsidy to the bands, the City Council had -somo silly regulation that- when bands were playing in the parks the collectors had to stand a certain distance from the gates with their money boxes, and they were not allowed to rattle them, continued Mr. Lethaby. In Wellington bands were lucky if they collected-£2 on a Sunday afternoon, but in Dunedin, where there were no such regulations, the bands were unlucky if they did not collect £20. The City Council in Dunedin evidently realised what an asset good bands were to a city.