SUNDAY MUSIC.

Evening Star, Issue 19006, 30 July 1925, Page 6

SUNDAY MUSIC.

On Cearic has removed a misconception wo were under in regard to the particular iniquity of band concerts, even when they aro held for charity, on Sunday evenings. In common, probably, with many others of the community, we had always thought it was tho time of the day proposed for these performances, though fixed carefully not to interfere with religious services, which made them not to bo tolerated by a majority of tho council. The impression had a good deal of evidence to support it. Neither tho council nor anyone else makes any objection to band concerts which aro held in the afternoon. The idea of some parts of tho Sabbath being naturally more holy than others has a much wider prevalence than might bo naturally concluded from any principle of reason applied to such a belief. We run trams in Dunedin most of tho, day on Sundays, but not in tho morning. On tho other hand, there aro seaside towns in New Zealand where public bathing, with the use of council facilities, is permitted in tho morning, but not in the afternoon. Distinctions made, therefore, between various parts of the day arc not the same for all localities, but 'they aro not uncommon. Cr Clark lias explained, however, that it is not the fact of their being held in tho evening that makes tho idea of certain Sunday concerts obnoxious to himself and those who think with him on tho Dunedin Council, but the fact of their being hold, with a collection forming part of the proceedings, in a licensed hall on a Sunday. If that were allowed to brass' hands it would be difficult to refuse the privilege to other instruments, which the veterans of Mellstock Choir, by the way—and again to show tho varieties of opinion—imagined to have a particular sort of harmony with religion. It is not Sunday music with which Cr Clark finds fault, as far as wo can follow his refined reasoning, but Sunday performances of music given in a hall, licensed by the council, at which a collection can he taken up, though it may bo for widows and orphans. The idea of a majority of the council, on his showing, narrows itself down to this: that Sunday band music is all right if it is played from a rotunda in one of the council’s reserves, and the council then may oven do its utmost to make money out of it (as it docs when such performances arc advertised beforehand in its trams), hut a now element, altering all the ethics of the matter, is introduced by the factor of walls. It is a subtle distinction. Our mayor strove, as ho has done before, for the adoption of some broader principle, but he strove in vain, and tho latest application for permission to hold a Sunday evening band concert, at which a collection would ho taken up for the widow and children of a deceased bandsman, was refused. That has always been the ease when applications of a like nature have boon dealt with by a largo enough meeting of the council, allowing tho conservatives to poll their full strength. But " is only a transient triumph which the champions of such artificial prejudices and distinctions can hope to gain. Tho spirit of an enlightened age must make them a minority in the not distant future. Principles refined so much as that which was explained by Cr Clark are not comprehensible to the ordinary man. Tho stiff-necked intolerants of “ His House in Order ” were at least consistent when they objected to the performance of music in public, even in tho open air; it was “ contrary to the English spirit,” it was “ Continental,” worst of all horrors it “ brought the sexes closely together.” Wo have ceased hero in Dunedin even to lead New Zealand in Sabbath restrictions. In at least one other town 'in the dominion tho swings and see-saws of tho children in places of public resort are all chained up—or were until quite recently—on Sundays. That is not done hero. The time is coming when a hand concert will bo held, even in a licensed hall, on a Sunday night after church hours for charity, and no one will think it dangerous to religion.