GENEROUS GIFT TO AUCKLAND CITY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13857, 21 March 1907, Page 2

GENEROUS GIFT TO AUCKLAND CITY.

ORGAN FOR THE TOWN lIALL. At. tlie last mooting, ot the Auckland City Council it was announced that Mr Ilenry Brett had decided to present an organ for the new 'town Hall. Mr Brett's letter (which has already been published) conveying tho offer was received with loud applause. The Mayor (Mr A.M. Myers) fa id tho announcement was, he was sure, very gratifying. They hoped before long to have a Town Ilall worthy of the city;

Iml. so far nettling had been said about the very necessary adjunct to such a building-an organ. Auckland, however, had been singularly fortunate in the gifts that had been bestowed upon it by the munificence of its private citizens; and it was with very great pleasure thiit-i they now learned one more was to bo added to the list', Mr Ilenry Brett having generously uttered to present an organ for the nov: Town Hail, a gift not only of great, intrinsic value, bill- also of great public utility. Without such an instrument, indeed, a. town hall could not adequately fulfil alt the purposes for which it was required. Ii would make the hall available for great musical gathering.''.; it, would enable thoso present at meetings for other purposes to spend ,(■llO internals of waiting, otherwise so tedious, in listening to its soul-stirring strains; and rccireh would, no doubt, also be held periodically. Anything tending to the education and uplifting of the masses of the people should be welcomed and encouraged by the civic authorities; and good music, with its brightening and refining influences, its power to soothe, to cheer, and to inspire, to awaken and give expression to tho loftiest, and, t-endcrest emotions, undoubtedly came under this category. A history of music in Auckland would admittedly be incomplete if the name of Ilenry Brett did not; figure prominently therein, both as an executant and a patron; and this was not the first time lie had shown his enthusiasm lor this art in a. very practical way. To mention only one of many instances, the city already owed the organ in the Choral .Uall to his liberality and public spirit. In these strenuous time when the tendency of the age savoured rather c.f excesses towards seeking the material things of lift!. it v.'as <■highly beneficial to a community to .possess citizens who delighted in unselfish gifts, for tho dual purpose of giving artistic pleasure to tlcir fellow-citizens, and at the. runie I into demonstrating t he donnas' pride in their municipal hearth. This ad. of spontaneous generosity on the part, of an esteemed fcl'.oweiti7,en (an ex-Mayor, by tho way) relieved tlra council of the expensive responsibility of providing a suitable organ for the noble <ow~i hall, tho creation of which had already been sanctioned by the .burgesKs, and n design approved a few days ago. Tho instrument which Mr Brett contemplated presenting would bo one well worthy or a city which had always been distingukJie-d for tho love of itfi people for music—in fact it would be tho bret in l;feo colony, costing several thousand pounds.—(Lcud applause.) The mayor then moved:—"That this coimo't acccpts with fueling.;; of exceedingly gre.it. pleasure and -satisfaction Mr Brett's magnificent gift of an organ for the new (own hall for the city of Auckland. Mr Brett has always shown a- practical interest in amy movotne.nr, in relation to music in this city, and (his last gift further proves his devotion to the eit-y in which ho lias lived for eo many years, and his sinecro desire to add to the enjoyment ami education of its citizens, and this council feels that, it cannot allow , this occasion to pa.st, without expressing iis sinccrc and heartfelt thanks for such a : generous gift."

Mr C. J. I'ari'. In eecondimr (ho .notion, said he had often wonder*] why t.liis city i>6s.s<y;scd prominence over ell other civics in tile colonics Mi !ho poMcs.on of generous public-spirited men. The pity had ;i record, lie b-L-liovcv.l, unequalled by any o>hr.>- colonial city. It miirlxi. ba interesting (o roflcc.t upon ihe cattse'of the public spirit and generosity ')[ Auckland people but (hat would neither be the occasion nor the time. His explanation was' that Auckland, wtli ilo natural ai'racrlons, its beautiful ?ur-roun-'linpf?. and ;iwis to tha enjoyment ''of life, broil in the heart, of it« citizens a gTcaf, lovo of the city. That might. o>• might not, Vo t.hc cause. but. the city had found in'Mr P.rcM: anot'ier very generous 'benefactor, and Mr Brett had ?oizcd upon a point l.liat was very i'nnortant, and was cfoiii.t: to make the town hall the musical centre of the city, as it should be. The town liall of a ureal citv should lie tho Mecca of music-lovcrs. Tho people of Auc-klnn<l would view this maguificonl gift v.itli tlic sati-faction so eloquently expressed bv the mayor, ■Mr 11. Jl. Smecton remarked that tho value of the 'jift was enhanced by tho almost, ejntire absence n[ conditions.

The motion was then carried,, with loi applause.