COUNCIL CRITICISM OF SUNDAY CONCERTS

Manawatu Times, Volume 59, Issue 272, 20 November 1934, Page 8

COUNCIL CRITICISM OF SUNDAY CONCERTS

Absence of Sacred Items I Commented Upon DIVIDED OPINION ON PICTURES Quito a lot was hoard at the Palmerston North City Council meeting j last evening about the merits of Sun- i day night concerts and the possibility c of moving pictures being introduced. t Cr. W. R. Cameron opened the dis- , cussion when the City Silver Band forwarded an application for December 2. I “We arc getting far too many Sunday night concerts," he declared, "and now tve have this application desiring to bring in a picture as. well. What guarantee have we that this picture will be censored" he asked. , The Mayor: It is one of the conditions that it must be sacred. ( Cr. Cameron: In every other city in j New Zealand the programme has to bo submitted first for approval. The town 5 clerk in Wellington has tho words of songs placed before him even. The ; time has come when the council should have control over the items. I sec ' where tap-dancing has been introduced. | Surely that is not sacred! We are »' granting permission for these concerts Sunday after Sunday without any restriction, whereas other cities put a very stringent censorship on them. The Mayor said the only reason why he was prepared to let tho, application go through was because it was ono of the functions connected with tho carnival. Cr. W. B. Tennent pointed out that if the council let this picture application go through, it would soon have others. They should put a stop to Sunday pictures. The Mayor: To a sacred picture? Cr. Tennent: We should draw the line at Sunday pictures—any picture whatever. Cr. R. L. C. Aitchison agreed with Cr. Cameron that the Sunday programmes should be submitted to the council.' Cr. Tennent; Any Sunday night picture submitted to mo for censorship will be censored. The Mayor: For charitable purposes? Cr. Tennent: Yes; because it is the thin end of the wedge. I want to assist the present effort all I can, but I am against Sunday pictures. Cr. W. H. Brown: If tho censorship is so severe that a picture must be a sacred one, what is going to happen to the rest of the programme? Must it be composed of all sacred items? The Mayor: Items suitable to the occasion. Cr. Tennent said he was getting fed up with the type of sacred concert Palmerston North was being offered. He had been asked to sing at one and chose sacred items. The person who followed him sang a Tagtime ditty, and he heard afterwards that the item preceding his had been of similar nature, and yet it was supposed to bo a sacred concert. The items should either be sacred or cut out altogether. Cr. Brown said the last concerts arranged by the Garrison Band had been termed Sunday concerts and not sacred ones. The items had been carefully selected and the concerts well controlled. Cr. Cameron thought tho council should have a straight-out opportunity to vote on the question of pictures on Sunday night. There were really two issues before the council —pictures and concerts. The Mayor agreed and decided to take the concert issue first. Cr. Tennent asked if any member of the council had gone to the trouble to find out if the concerts were within the resolution passed by the council previously! The Mayor: Nobody apparently has gone to them. , Cr. Brown: Yes; I have. The Mayor: Can you tell the council if.the concerts are in conformity with the spirit of the council’s wish? Cr. Brown: Perhaps I can reply this I way: The council should go in a holy and see, Cr. Tennent: I think that is an answer that the concerts are not. Permission was granted the City I Band to hold a concert provided it conforms to the conditions laid down by the council. The Mayor then moved that permission bo granted for a Sunday night picture subject to it being passed by a special committee set up by the council. He added that Cr. Tennent would have nothing to complain about the J pictures he passed. The motion was carried by five votes ! to four, those against being Crs. Cam--3 eron, Tennent, Aitchison and Free. | Cr. Tremaine did not vote, stating in reply to the Mayor that as a general principle he did not approve of Sunday pictures, but could imagine circumstances arising when it would be the easiest way of raising funds, and he did not want to block that opportunity. Cr. Tremaine’s vote was thereupon recorded in favour of the motion. Cr. Tennent next moved that in future concert items be submitted to the Mayor and the town clerk two days ahead, for approval. | The Mayor said he did not . feel in--1 dined to accept the responsibility. 1 Further, it would put the town clerk in I an awkward position if he could not 1 agree with the speaker, which meant 1 that the Mayor would be the sole 1 judge. I Cr. Tennent said he was prepared to 1 leave it in the hands of the town 1 clerk. He wanted the encore items in--1 eluded, as that was where the wcak--1 ness lay. S Cr. Tremaine: And has the town i clerk to run through tho scores of 1 songs ho doesn’t know and the words lof elocutionary items he doesn’t I know? And what if the items don’t I please? Has he to bear tho brunt of a the criticism? I Cr. Hodgcns thought it was not a i fair position to put tho town clerk in. I There was a sub-committee of the a council appointed--0 - Cr. Lanzlai - : fowtha Christmas

and Easter programmes. Why not Cr. Tennent as censor? Cr. Hodgens suggested that the subcommittee should make the decisions and not the town clerk, and he moved accordingly, the censors to bo the Mayor and Cr. Tennent. Cr. Tremaine seconded and the motion was carried.