Music festival suggested

THE people of New Zealand probably pride themselves on being lovers of music. Few, indeed, are the homes in which the sound of the piano is not heard. Under normal conditions, Dunedin, with a population of about onefifth that of the average provincial town in Great Britain, boasts two amateur orchestral societies, many brass bands, a military mixed band, orchestral clubs, two choral societies,a male choir, an operatic society, and many small choirs. It has also numerous capable soloists, both

vocal and instrumental, who are not attached to any of these organisations.Our young people take themselves and their musical studies very seriously, as is evidenced by the results achieved in the examinations of the Trinity College and the Associated Board, and in other standard examinations. Similar conditions exist in the other large centres of the dominion. In such favourable circumstances it might be expected that a great outburst of the creative would follow this stimulation of the art impulse in the vigorous firstfruits of a new nation planted among the most ideal conditions conceivable of climate and of natural beauty; especially when that nation is conscious of being sprung from an intellectual, finefibred, cultured stock, of the noblest and most chivalrous aspirations, and of the most glorious traditions, not only in the sphere of social evolution, but in the domains of art and science. . .

Nothing is more sure than that

Dunedin could organise a successful annual festival if the initiative were undertaken by representative citizens, advised by the professional element.