LATE DOMINION NEWS.

Mataura Ensign, 29 January 1912, Page 6

LATE DOMINION NEWS.

■—,— VICTORS FROt: URUGUAY. I DUE NEXT MONTH. WELLINGTON, Jan. 28. Montero Bustamente, Consul i.i Australasia fcr Uruguay, left Wellington, on Friday for Sydney by the Ulimai'oa to meet the embassy of six : agricultural engineers of Uruguay, who are to visit New Zealand next month. I 'After a ':our through Australia, the i embassy will come on to New Zealand. \ Thev ii ro -duo to arrive at the Bluff on 1 Febi'ur.y 28. In the south they will j cise, well in tune, and gave a fine dis-1 Longbeach, Christchurch and the Canterbury Agricultural College. The em-' bassy will arrive in Wellington on Fri- ; day, March 1, and leave immediately by train for Napier. On Saturday they will visit Temata, Aratati, and Marackakahoe estates and Mr Donnelly's station, thev will be at Palmerston Nortli on Monday, March 4, and will visit Mr Short's farm among others. On the Tuesday following 'the Moumahaki State farm will be inspected. Some of the dairies round Hawera will he visited on Wednesday, and Thursday will be spent at the Weraroa State farm. The embassy will return to Wellington on March 8 and will leave the same day by the Tahiti for San Francisco. FIRE AT NELSON. NELSON, Jan. 27. Five broke out about one o'clock this afternoon in the toiler house at Griffin and Son's biscuit factory and rapidly spread to the boiling department, where it was confined by the efforts of the Fire Brigade. The machinery was not! seriously injured, but portion of the ' building was considerably damaged so 1 'that there will be a stoppage of work, for a few days. Insurances total £14,750 in various offices. DR POMARE'S SEAT. A NATIVE KORERO. AUCKLAND, Jan. 28. Active preparations by local Maoris have been made to provide food for a large number of natives who have been summoned to attend a big korero at Waahi (Mahuta's settlement near Huntly) to-morrow in connection with objection to Dr Pomare, M.P., the successful candidate for Western Maori district, it being alleged that he is a threequarter caste on the European , side, and is therefore nob eligible to sit as a Maori. It is stated that should the allegation be proved Henare Kaihau (ex-member) and Pepene Eketone, two of the runners up at the recent elecs tion, will have a straight-out fight for the seat. BANDS AND BAND MUSIC. MR T. MORGAN INTERVIEWED. CHRISTCHURCH, Jan. 28. The exacting task of adjudicating in a hand contest was performed last week . by Mr Thomas Morgan. From Monday . morning until Friday night, with occa- . sional intervals for sleep and refreshment, the judge occupied a curtained , box in the gallery of the Olympia Rink and listened to the good, bad and indifferent performances of bands and bandsmen. It is an experience calculated to strain the nerves and ruffle the temper of people less nervous than musicians, but Mr Morgan seems to have taken it philosophically. A press~ man mentioned an interview with some trepidation, but the judge very goodnaturedly consented to recount some of his impressions on the music of the past week. "I must say," Mr Morgan remarked, "that your bands reached a higher level than the Australian bands. The instrumentalists in the solo competitions were exceptionally good players and capital executants. Their great failing was the lack of soulful playing. I have no hesitation in saying that with culture, refinement and plenty of consistent application, the New Zealand hands ought to he second to none in the world. In the "Liszt" selection the band to whom I awarded the highest number of marks, 'Kaikorai/ undoubtedly gave the best rendering. It had the passion and fire of the selection; but it was by no means the most carefully trained or best tuned band. Its rendering of the selection impressed me i on account of its freshness and aban- ! don. The second band (Wanganui) were too restrained; therein lay the difference in "Die Meistersinger." However, only one band (Wanganui) treated the music properly and gave tne correct reading. The opera had been pioperly studied and the parts were brought out in accordance with the text of the opera. The band were previsit Invercargill, Temuka, Winchester, . play of general musicianship. The other bands showed an utter disregard of the - operative situations, and this gave me . the impression that the opera could not i possibly have been studied by them. ,

The outstanding fault of the bands of both grades was that they took the movements too slow; most of the slow movements were wearisome to listen to. There is such a thing as motion, and music without motion is not music at all. Proper movement and rhythmical pulsation is the very essence of music. When a raflentando came the music seemed to stop; it was really awful. Ihe binds must treat their music a little more freely and not go at it mechanically. The real beauty of music cannot be indicated in print; but the 'true musician will read into the music what is wanted and introduce the variations of tempo, the rubato and the passion which the movement calls for." "I feel that I have done all the bands justice," Mr Morgan continued. "I was as earnest in my work as they were in theirs. I know well the amount of work they must have put into the preparation ror the contest, and I realised the importance of the occasion. My notes may have been rather scathing; but I think it is for the best that we should know our faults and set to work to remedy them. My notes are quite unbiassed and kindly meant. I was delighted with the way in which the bands followed my beat in the massed band playing on the show ground, and I was also delighted to notice their keen appreciation of light and shade. I can go back to England and tell the bandsmen there that the New Zealand management could not be improved upon and that the bandsmen here can accept defeat as well as rejoice in victory. 1 hopo to have the pleasure of coming back at somo future time. The Australians have asked me to visit them whenever 1 can possibly do so, and I hope to '•>••* honored with another invitation to New Zealand." A suggestion has been made that band music in New Zealand would be improved by the visit for a year or two of a high-class Home bandmaster, who would give the bands both practical and theoretical instruction. Mr Morgan said that much good might be done in that, way. The New Zealand players individually were the best he had ever come across, and band music must be improved by the instruction they would get from a first-class English band teacher. New Zealand players were better than the average Home players. The winning B B flat player was really a treat to listen to, and he had been astounded when he found that the B B flat players were undertaking to play difficult cornet solos on their great instruments.