from: The Otago Daily Times, Saturday, April 15, 1972.
Dunedin is to lose its Pied Piper.
The now widely-known busker & musician, John Christopher Wesley Barker, intends to return to Britain.
But 17-year old John will leave behind a sharp criticism of New Zealand's secondary education system.
Secondary Schools here, he said, were so regimented that a pupil never learned the meaning of self-discipline.
John first made news in New Zealand when he was arrested for busking in Auckland's Vulcan Lane.
He was found sitting on the pavement, playing his flute with a hat for donations on the ground before him.
However, he was discharged without conviction on a charge of being idle and disorderly when appeared in the Dunedin Magistrates Court.
It was this incident that earned John the title of "The Pied Piper of Vulcan Lane."
The courts were told that this young "Pied Piper" had written operas and was a brilliant musician.
Yesterday he was putting the finishing touches to music he had written for the Globe Theatre's production of "Much Ado About Nothing."
John was also working on an opera for Warwick University in Britain.
He has not attended school in Dunedin now for a month but has devoted his time to concentrating on his music.
John hopes to return to Britain before the end of the year to attend the Dartington Hall Music School in Devon.