SUNDAY CONCERTS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16818, 22 August 1922, Page 6

SUNDAY CONCERTS.

The opposition of the Council of Christian Congregations to the proposal that the City Council should license fixed charges for Sunday concerts seems to us to be rather illogical. In the opinion of the meeting the proposal is a retrograde one ) bristling with practical difficulties. It would have been more candid to acknowledge that the present difficulties are caused by the absence of an authority to make fixed charges. We have never been able to discover any sound reason why a concert held on a Sunday should be subject to special penalties which can only be designed to interfere with its financial success. Under the present system the concert chamber may be filled by “ dead heads” who are under no compulsion, save a slight moral obligation, to contribute anything at all. They may, if they choose, enjoy the ooncert for nothing and give nothing towards the charitable fund to assist which the concert had been arranged. The moral urge ” to give is very weak in many people, whose ideas of helping a charity and paying for a musical entertainment may be assessed at threepence per bead. These people, by getting in early, frequently crowd out others whose charitable impulses are built on a larger scale. The concerts are usually given by artists who receivj fee for their services, and the great er portion of the labour i 6 also done by voluntary workers. The opposition to a fixed charge is a survival of the old prejudice that Sunday music, unless it i> given in a church and is of a strictly sacred character, is sinful. Modem ideas have swept past such narrow restrictions, and Sunday concerts have become a recognised and desirable feature of the life of the community. We hope that during the approaching summer there will he many free open-air concerts by bands and other musical organisations. In the meantime we think that the City Council should take a broad view of the Sunday concerts which are arranged to assist charitable funds, and fix such charges as will enable the promoters to secure a reasonable return over and above expenses.