$1,900 From the States General Fund Available
For Making Byrd Park's 'Singing Tower' Sing

Byrd Park's "singing tower," which has done comparatively little singing in recent years because of disputes over who should foot the concert bills, will probably be heard from more often in the future.

Wilbur C. Hall, chairman of the Virginia Conservation Commission, announced yesterday that Governor Price had authorized the commission to spend up to $1,900 on the Carillon: the money must be repaid to the State's general fund, the Governor specified, out of the $40,000 fund that the commission will have available on July 1, 1939, to advertise the Old Dominion.

Most of the money, Mr. Hall indicated, will be spent for badly needed repairs and improvements in the museum housed in the base of the tower.

None for Player

While the City of Richmond expends about $5,000 a year in providing heat, light, paint and the like for the Carillon property, none of this amount is used to pay a carilloneur, to finance concerts or to improve the museum housed in the base of the tower. These latter duties, the city contends, were entrusted to the Conservation Commission by the 1936 General Assembly, according to Gamble M. Bowers, director of Richmond's Department of Public Works.

Guardians of the State exchequer protest, however, that the General Assembly appropriated a total of $250,000 to aid in building the $310,000 memorial, only on condition that the City of Richmond or private persons agree to provide "perpetual upkeep and maintenance" for the Carillon. Maintenance, the State officials say, includes operation, and operation includes concerts. Therefore, the argument continues, the city should pay for the "singing."

This difference of opinion accounts for the long periods of silence from the 66 tower bells, which alone cost $60,000.

Concert Cost $150

The expense of the recent Armistice Day concert is to come out of the $1,900, which in effect, the Conservation Commission is borrowing from its next year's advertising fund. That concert, according to an accounting made to the Governor, cost $150: for "cleaning" the Carillon, $60; for providing radio broadcasting facilities, $65; for a carilloneur, $25.

Commissioner Hall's report to Governor Price stated that the flags and various relics in the museum are threatened with deterioration unless display cases and other protective materials are installed. Many of the relics are valuable and could not be replaced, he added.

The Carillon was completed in 1932, with private subscriptions of $75,000 supplementing State appropriations of $250,000.