VALUE OF COMPETITIONS

Hawera Star, Volume L, 28 August 1930, Page 9

VALUE OF COMPETITIONS

ENTHUSIASM COMMENDED. v A JUDGE’S COMMENTS. In the course of a brief conversation with a “Hawera Star” representative yesterday Mr J. W. Bailey, judge of elocution at the Hawera Competitions Festival, said he felt exceedingly’ pleased to see the way in which the Hawera people supported the competitions, for he found a packed house at the beginning of the evening. He was very glad to note also. the spirit of harmony prevailing, without which, he said, there could lie no creative advancement. The greatness of any town depended, he added, on individual effort and on co-opera-tion. “This is an age of commercial strife,” said Mr Bailey. “Care must be taken that in the turmoil we, as a country, do not allow the aesthetic side of life to be lost. If we do neglect the arts we taken from life its greatest joy and become a country without a soul, my first impression on going to the United States.” He added: that in this age of mechanical inventions there was an ever-increasing demand for institutions such as thej competitions festival, which would provide an incentive to all entering to give of their best. He said that the good effects of the festival were very evident and he advised all parents to help in the work by encouraging their children to comoete and by helping them in their preparation. He strongly advocated all children baking up the art of reading, which, would quickly improA r e their speech and make them concentrate and think i for themselves, a necessary process if one is to express oneself well. “It should not he forgotten,” he said, j “that there is the music of the speaking voice as well as of the singing Yoice. This is the most beautiful of all musical instruments, and used with oare is one of our most precious possessions.” Referring to the talkies, Mr Bailey said they would, 1 in his opinion, always be with the people and would natur- ; ally take the place of the silent films. Ee was, however, glad to notice a revival of interest in the musical evenbigs of the home circle and hoped it would continue. He referred to the birth of the drama, which arose from the interoretation of a story bv the savages in their heathen dances and incantations, and from that day there had persisted a desire for self-expression. “The distance of New Zealand from the art- centres of the world, the lack of historic buildings and the difficulty surrounding association with the great artists all make it imperative that we in New Zealand should do everything oossible to cultivate in the minds of the children a desire for and a love of the beautiful,” said Mr Bailey. “In this ivay by degrees will be ivolved the ability to create, and so shall we feel less and less the isolation of the country from the great centres of art.”