SUNDAY SACRED CONCERTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14279, 30 July 1908, Page 8

SUNDAY SACRED CONCERTS

i -, , COUNCIL'S PERMISSION GIVEN. '. A letter from the secretary of tho K«iI korai J3and asking that, in view of (ho band going to 15allar.it to represent Dun- , cdm at the Australian Estidfodd, it ho ; permitted to give sacred concerts in His .' Majesty's Theatre at 8 o'clock on Sunday ) evenings, caused somo discussion ami ex- - pressions of opinion by members of the City Council last night. Tlio writer stated that the, band was £120 short of the sum necessary to defray expenses; that no charge- was proposed to he made for admission, but that a collection would bo taken up after or during the proceeding's. Cr Colo professed himself highly in sympathy with the applicants on this occasion, a.nd said he thought the council should not stand ill their way. The council would bo . only too glad to welcome them back if [ successful, and they should help them now. i He moved that the request be acceded to. i Or Kcust seconded the motion with great pleasure. Now was an opportunity for . the band to test its mcttlo against the , Australian bands. i Cr If.' H. S. White said he did not see : where the council was going to draw the I line between a sacred concert and a lecture by Mrs Annie Besant, for instance. How- . ever, when a. body of men were prepared . to help themselves in this way the council i should help them. I Or Smith suit! if he were the only conn- , cillor to vote against the request, he would . wish his vote to be recorded. He was I strongly against the principle of allowing these bands to play—violating the sanctity , of \thd Sabbath Day. Such a concert pre- [ vorited young people from attending church service. He would like to know what was to prevent the band playing on a week \ night and hiring a hall? Cr Fiddes held that if the council did ', not grant (life request it would be a. "set " ' in the wrong direction. Did not the '' council this band to play at the Botanical Gardens? Did this keep children away from Sunday school? Not a bit of it. He hoped the concession would bo 1 granted. Cr Burr said he trusted that the band, if it went to Ballarat, wouid be successful, but he was out of sympathy with a. band playing on Sunday evenings, The only reason he would vote against this, was to keep the Sunday apart as the Sabbath Day. Could the council 6co a. way to do anything else for the band, he would support it. Cr J. E. White said he thought this request. was * no "" n tuo TC( lge. Grant this, and away would go their Sunday. Tho Mayor said he thought the Oit. Council should not support anything that it had discountenanced before. If the band played, as suggested, on a week night, the enterprise could hardly pay. Men had their work to attend to; the expense of a hall would he considerable, and many people for various reasons would be debarred from attending. Ho, for one, would .give his vote to put their foot down and stop aJI music on a Sunday—if such was the wish of the council. Music had been permitted on a Sunday, and tho council had paid men to plav it. ■ He saw no reason' to stop the Kaikorai Band, provided Gacrcd music was played and the bylaws woro observed. Cr Scott reminded his Worship that ho had always opposed this sort of thing, so was not inconsistent. Cr Gilkinson said he saw no harm whatever in a sacred concert being held on Sunday evenings. The music played there would bo practically the same as played in the homes or churches.' Tlio motion was carried: Crs Ban 1 , Smith, Shaeklock, Bennett; Small, and Scott' voting Bgainst it.