NATIVE OF TARANAKI

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 68, 25 March 1929, Page 4

NATIVE OF TARANAKI

MR. ARTHUR HIRST. GIFTED MUSICIAN. Mr. Arthur, Hirst, T.R.S.A., who is to make a tour of the province, is a true native of Taranaki, for not only was he born in Patea, but he received his earliest education in the publio schools of Midhirst and Stratford. His mother, Mrs. James Hirst, was widowed isoon after, the family settled on the farm on the farm on the Radnor Road, Midhirst, and she remained there for (soma twelve years, before returning M* Patea, where she eventually dieW, but was buried beside her husband in the Midhirst cemetery. Arthur Hirst was the youngest son of the family,, and after iris education was completed he entered the Railway Service, hut later accepted a position in the Bank of New Zealand. After seven years' service in New Zealand he determined to< go to England and spent a year in the London branch of the bank. Then it was that he decided to take up an artistic calling, and having made up his mind he went straight to Germany and worked with such vigour and cleiermination, that m a incredibly short space of time he established himself as a music-master in Berlin,- and gained a position on the staff of the greatest Conservatorium in the City. The outbreak of the war found him on holiday in Norway, whence he returned straight to England and was given a special commission in tho Naval Service, where his knowledge of European languages gave him a place of unique importance. He served in the Navy until after the end of the war, being finally invalided out in 1919, with his health in a parlous state. However, a year later he was able to take np the reinß of his profession again, and since then has built up an unique position in England, his special power a» pianist ad lecturer enabling him to make the deepest joys of great music accessible to the ordinary" man, who is apt to call himself "unmusical." The encomiums passed upon his work by many of the Eeenest London critics and English thinkers speak for themselves, and two years ago he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts of Music. There are many residents of Taranaki who remember the whole Hirst family in tho old days, .and who will welcome this son of the soil who has given us reason for pride, and there should be a great gathering to him when he comes to give us of his 'talent on 11th April. Even those wFo~liave no personal links will be wise to seize the opportunity of hearing a unique exposition in ordinary straight-forward terms, 0 f the beauties of the most human of all the Arts. Mr. Hirst sends a special message to say that he looks. forward with deep emotion J Ad his Taranaki appearajnees, and hopes that any old friends of his boyhood in~eit"lier Stratford orJVfidhirst, will be sure to have a word with him after his recital.