A REMARKABLE REQUEST

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22063, 20 September 1933, Page 4

A REMARKABLE REQUEST

BRASS BANDS’ ASSOCIATION LOCAL FUNDS COVETED AN UNRESPONSIVE EXECUTIVE . f A certain amount of astonishment has been caused by a request which the Dunedin Band Contest Executive has received that it should place its financial resources at the disposal of the New Zealand Brass Bands’ Association. When it is stated that the funds of the latter body are practically non-existent and that the local executive has by thrift and efficient management accumulated a reserve fund of just over £I2OO, the unconscious humour of the request becomes evident, i The New Zealand Brass Bands’ Association was formed several years ago to exercise a centralised authority over brass bands in the Dominion and to deal with matters of interest to bandsmen generally. Since the band contest was held in Dunedin last autumn the association has announced its intention of taking over the control of all future contests and appointing a paid organiser to supervise their management. It is understood that the prizes which it is intended to offer will be of more or less nominal value. This is in contrast with the policy adopted by the Dunedin executive, which for one section during the last contest offered ft first prize amounting approximately to £2(70. It is also stated -that the association intends to protect itself further by imposing the condition that if the next contest is not a success financially no prizes at all will be awarded. The Dunedin executive, it may be mentioned, spent about £IOOO in prize money, and its total outgoings were over £2OOO, of which no less an amount than £l5O was paid out to nieet a portion of the travelling expenses of competing bands. Actually the contest last autumn was a financial success, and a profit of about £l2O was realised, hut it will be understood that the executive ran the risk of meeting a heavy deficit, and a wet day on the afternoon; of the quick-step competition would have spelt disaster. During past years the local executive, which exists solely for the purpose of controlling band contests and is not associated with bands in any other way, has raised an amount of about £9OO by public subscription to meet the expenses entailed in* connection with the holding of these contests, and the present favourable financial position is in no small measure due to the generosity of the business people of Dunedin, The efficiency with which the contests have been conducted has been the envy of other centres, and in this respect it will be recalled that the Dunedin executive was granted the right this year of holding the New Zealand contest after Canterbury had declined the responsibility. It was therefore with astonishment, not unmixed with amusement, that the naive request was received from the controlling body that the Dunedin executive should hand over this amount of £I2OO. Members regarded it as one of the most remarkable “try ons” which had come under their notice, and have not hesitated to say so. They have not been faced with any difficulty in coining to a decision regarding the matter, and on Monday a reply was despatched to the effect “ that, the Dunedin executive regretted it was unable to comply with the New Zealand Association’s request.”