ART UNION REFUSED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19125, 17 September 1925, Page 8

ART UNION REFUSED.

MINISTER DECLINES PERMIT. TAKAPUNA MUNICIPAL BAND. •' ,tiv ,t The Minister for Internal Affairs, the ' Hon. R. F. Bollard, has refused to grant permission to the Takapuna Municipal Band to hold an art union, the purpose of which was to raise funds for the purchase of a section of land on which to .erect a bandstand. The prizes were to have been a piano, a gramophone and three prizes of a smaller valuo. In a letter to the Borough Council last evening, the Under-Secretary for Internal Affairs, Mr. V. Hislop, said it regretted that permission could not be » given, as the Minister's authority to grant a license was governed by Section 42, of the Gaming Act, 19Q8. This section limited objects which might be legally raffled to paintings, drawings, sculptures,' on other works of art, literature, mineral specimens, or mechanical models. , "We consider," said Mr. G. Creamer, speaking on behalf of the band, "that a piano is a work of art, and so is a gramophone. (Laughter.) It is riot every man who can make a piano and it is not every man. who can make a gramophone ; therc"fore they are more entitled to be called works of art than are nuggets of gold,, which are being raffled, together with cash prizes, in-other art unions. We are asking the Minister to define'what a work of art is," (Renewed laughter.)

-As the band was taking the matter up, the letter was received.