SUNDAY BAND CONCERTS

Evening Star, Issue 19020, 15 August 1925, Page 10

SUNDAY BAND CONCERTS

TO THE EDITOR.

Sir, —The seven councillors who voted against granting the theatre for a very deserving cause are not in favor of the public paying for an entertainment on Sundays, as it would cause a precedent. 1 fail to see how these councillors can take up this attitude when the tramways are making profit out of the bands on Sundays. I understand that the council pays a subsidy to each band of £SO a year, that each band has to play so many Sundays at the Gardens and St. Clair. In Dunedin we have seven bands, which means £350 subsidy to the bands; the bands provide entertainment for the public, and the tramways receive the profits. I would like the tramway manager to show tho councillors bis returns for tho Sundays that the bands play in the Gardens and at St. Glair, as compared with Sundays that bands are not playing, and the seven councillors would find that the bands arc making profit for the tramways on Sundays. Would the councillors grant subsidies to the bands if they only played at Jubilee Park and, say, the foreshore? I say “No.” It is the bands that make revenue for the. tramways.

If the seven are not in favor of profits being made on Sundays, why are the motor buses allowed to make special trips on Sunday to convey passengers to the wharves to see the American fleet? Why cannot the public inspect the boats on week days, or walk? I am satisfied that it is only the narrow-mindedness of the seten, and instead of Dunedin being fifty years behind, I think that they are nearer 100 years. I trust that our worthy mayor, who has the right spirit, or Cr MacManus will demand to have the receipts shewn for Sunday trams, as suggested. I have been connected with bands for many years, and know the hard work that members put in for the enjoyment of the public.—l am, etc., Ex-Bandsman. August 15.