The Band Contest Dispute.

Southland Times, Issue 13061, 8 November 1894, Page 3

The Band Contest Dispute.

To the’Contest Committee, Invercargill Band Contest. (Per favour of the Southland Times.) Gentlemen, —We are in receipt of a copy of the Southland Times of 25th October, containing a report of your meeting, held the previous night. As Lieutenant Siddall was allowed to make a statement, which was crowded with inaccuracies, and having been published in the daily papers, is calculated to mislead the Invercargill public, we respectfully beg to offer our statement of the true position, and trust you will give it the same publicity. We propose to take the assertions made by Lieutenant Siddall serialum, but before doing so wish to enter our earnest protest against the palpable injustice done the outside bands in allowing the I.G. Band, a very much interested party, to have six representatives sitting or voting on this matter. Had they been asked to retire, as in all fairness they should do, their motion, instead of being carried by two votes, would have been lost by a substantial majority. In speaking re Mr Lithgow, Mr Siddall admitted that “ when the roll of members was sent to the secretary of the association, it was not thought possible that Mr Lithgow’s services could be obtained;” and, further, admits they had to make special arrangements to induce him to come, as follows : to pay his passage money and expenses and (mark this well, please), an amount to cover the loss he would sustain by “ being away from his business in Tas- | mania.” This, we think, is about as . damaging an j admission as could well be made for the case of the 1.G.8., and con- i clusively proves that Mr Lithgow is looked on as a resident of Tasmania, even by Mr Siddall himself. The latter gentleman proceeds as follows : — “ Furthermore, Mr Lithgow had only been away three or four , months from town, etc.,” forgetting to mention that Mr Lithgow had tendered his , resignation as a member of the band, which , the band had refused to accept, possibly j with a view to just such a contingency as | has arisen. Moreover, the fact of his bav- ' ing left the band was wired all over the colony as well as his having received a presentation,as a mark of esteem. This, coupled with the fact that Mr Lithgow, with his own lips, distinctly stated that as soon as he could arrange some business he had in hand he intended returning to Tasmania, proves ! beyond a doubt that the protest was justified. But worse remains. Mr Lithgow’s case was | bad enough, but Mr Anderson’s was still i more glaring. In hi’ evidence before the Protest Committee (which can be verified on reference to the rough minutes), the latter gentleman said “ I have not been a member ! of the LG. Band for four or five years, i although I believe my name has been kept i on the roll all the time. I played once with 1 the band 12 months ago. I have only prac- • ticed with the band a little over a month.” i The above, we think, requires no comment. | Both Lieut. Siddall and Mr Lithgow are at | a loss to understand the reason of the protest . against the latter. The protest against both ‘ the gentlemen named was that they were not bona fide members, not having been in active association with the band three months prior ; to the contest as required by the rules.— (Vide rule 3, clause 2 of the association). As to the statement that Mr Wolf was | firing balls prepared by someone else, as well , as the assertion, made later, that the pro- i testing bands were interested in dividing the prize money between them, they are beneath | notice, especially when it is known that Mr Wolf’s first protest was entered on Thursday, before either of the selections had been played, and therefore before the judge’s award had been given. Apart from that, Mr Wolf distinctly stated that he had received his information from the Southland Times, which contained a paragraph to the effect that the 1.G.8. had secured the services of Messrs Lithgow and Anderson for the forthcoming contest, etc., and as this was only five or six weeks before the contest, he came down with the fixed determination to protest against such a glaring breach of the rules. Now for Lieut.-Colonel Hannah’s reason for leaving the chair. Lieut. Siddall states that' “ the chairman ruled that the meeting was not a properly constituted meeting as there was only one band represented that was financial,” and that was the Invercargill Garrison Band. Now both these statements are absolutely contrary to fact. In the first place, Lieut.Colonel Hannah did not rule as averred, and in the second place, the 1.G.8. were proved, by the letter sent by their secretary, Mr Jenkins, to the secretary of the association, to be, according to Mr Siddall’s definition of the term “ financial,” in a worse plight than any of the other bands. Before giving the true reason of our chairman’s retirement, we would like to draw your careful attention to clause 3, rule 1, of the general rules and regulations, and to rule 8 of the same. Clause 3, rule 1, reads: “The subscription to the association shall be one guinea per year, and shall be payable in advance to the secretary, on or before September 30th in each year. Subscriptions not paid on that i date shall be deemed arrears.” Rule 8 reads : “ A band being one year behind in their subscription shall cease to belong to the association, and shall not be eligible to take part in any contest carried on under the association rules or with their sanction,' unless the same be paid previous to the contest being held.” At the annual meeting held last Easter, it was decided that the subs, in future could be paid half-yearly in advance, but no alteration was made in the amount, nor was rule 8 interfered with, and under these two rules, the Protest Committee held, that as all the bands, with the Invercargill Garrison, had paid their subs, in full up to April, 1895, they were financial. We would draw your particular attention to this interesting fact: that all the bands protested against on the ground of being unfinancial, had paid their subs, for the year ending September 30th, 1894, some considerable time prior to that

date, and the 10s fid paid by them on October 13th carried them forward to April, 1895, as per the secretary’s receipt. The only really! unfinancial band was proved to be the 1.G.8. Such is the irony of fate. This was proved beyond a doubt, by the letter of their own secretary, covering their subscription for 1894, and with a postscript added apologising for the fact that although he had written the letter on September 30th (the last day on which, according to Lieut. Colonel Hannah’s ruling it could have been posted to make it legal tender) he had omitteffito post it for two or three days. , Now for the real reason for the chairman’s retirement: Lieut.-Col. Hannah was asked to give a ruling on the above two rules, and after looking carefully through them, said he would rather not express an opinion on the subject, and preferred that the committee should settle the matter amongst themselves. He then left the chair and a successor was immediately appointed, who warned Lieut. Siddall and Mr Lee, the representative of the Dunedin Engineers’ Band, that if they left the meeting they did so at the peril of their respective bands. Lieut. Siddall claims that the representatives of the bands who had sat in judgment on the matters in dispute were themselves interested in the same. Now, gentlemen, herein lies the secret of the whole matter. It was rumoured all over Invercargill, prior to the Saturday, that if the protest against

the 1.G.8. were gone on with, there would be one entered against every band taking part in the contest. This was done, and done with only one object in view, TO, to bark, if possible, any adjudication of the Ttrntaata lodized against the Invercargill Garrison and B the Dunedin Engineers Bands. We do not wish to cast reflections on bands particularly, but we think the committee can clearly see for themselves from the manner in which the protests were lodged viz., one from the 1.G.8. against th korai, and from the Engineers against> all the other bands (with the exception" «>urae of the 1.G.8.), that the above-mentioned rumour was not without foundation. Again, this startling fact. If the protest against the 1.G.8. had been allowed to drop, there would have been no protest against any of the bands, and Lieutenant Siddall unconsciously gave proof °t this, for he threatened (mark the word) Mr Wolf, in the presence of Mr Stratton, that hf he dia not drop his protest he (Mr Siddall) had one to enter, and, turning to Mr Stratton, informed that gentleman it was against his band. Mr Stratton, as may be imagined, was somewhat taken aback, and asked what he had done. He was told it was on his band’s financial position. This, we submit, proves that this, as well as the protest from the Engineers Band, was purely and simply a miserable quibble. We think the above few particulars will put a different complexion on the straightforwardness of the ’ 7?e the Quickstep Contest: This mutter was dismissed (by the Protest Committee, but unfortunately it was not particularised in the letter sent to the Contest Committee re holding back the prize money. Is it not a little late in the day for Mr Siddall to assert that other bands were in the same packed condition as his own 1 If such had been the case, two (blacks don’t made a white, and he should have protested at the proper time and thus have proved his bona fide honesty. . , Now for the assurance given to Mr Everett that the names of members had all been sent to Christchurch. This, in view of clause 2, rule 3, contest rules, was not worth the paper it-was written on. Rule 3 reads—“No band shall be allowed more than one professional, each performer must be a bona fide member of the band, three months prior to the contest. Clause 1 defines the term professional. Clause 2 defines bona fide member as follows:— “ Bom fide member of a band shall be understood to be one who has been duly enrolled as a member of the band, and who is in active association with the band.” It would be a scandalous thing if bands were allowed to retain as members all players who had ever belonged to them, no matter how long ago nor in what part of the world they might be living, and, at contest time, to beat them up. . Mr P. Mohr was wrong in suggesting that if Mr Wolf had not come down there would have been no protest as the matter was seriously discussed both in Oamaru and Dunedin. Mr Macfarlane's statement looks bad on the face of it, but we have Mr Stratton’s assurance that although he may have expressed himself as satisfied with the position of his band he did not by any means admit that he was satisfied with the constitution of the Invercargill Garrison Band. Mr R. Galbraith asserts that the band arrahged to ask Mr Lithgow to come from Tasmania at a meeting at which Mr Siddall was not present. This may be so, but it does not acquit Mr Siddall, us the latter gentleman, the very day the bands arrived in Invercargill, gave as his reason for importing Mr Lithgow that he himself was a martyr to indigestion, and, what with the working up of his band and the general worry of the contest, he was afraid his health would give way. We can quite understand that it should be Mr Galbraith s opinion that the two gentlemen protested against were members of his band, but the rules and the evidence adduced flatly contradict him. To show that the Protest Committee are perfectly honest in their actions we would like you to understand that as each protest was considered the delegates of the bands concerned were asked to retire in accordance with the rules, and were only called into the room to give evidence for and against, so that no band was allowed to vote on or discuss any protest in which they themselves were concerned. We think it is unnecessary to say more than this : that if the rules of the association are allowed to be overridden, then the sooner it dies a natural death the better. This statement has been submitted to the different representatives, in Oamaru and Timaru, as well as Dunedin, and is sanctioned by them. Trusting the matter will be arranged justly, We remain, &c., The Protest Committee, Per A. F. Robertshaw, Chairman.