OVERCROWDING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 150, 27 June 1934, Page 8

OVERCROWDING.

"FLAGRANT BREACH."

WRESTLING IN TOWN HALL

FIRE BOARD'S COMPLAINT.

Complaints of further overcrowding in the Town Hall were heard at a meeting of the Auckland Metropolitan Fire Board, when reports were presented by the superintendent of the fire brigade, Mr. W. L. Wilson, and one of his officers of overcrowding in the hall during a recent -wrestling bout. Mr. Wilson described the state of the ball as a "flagrant breach of the'city by-laws." The chairman, Mr. J. J. Kingston, said'he would confer with the inspector of fire brigades in the hope of securing authority for action by the fire brigades. On Thursday, June 14, at 0.15 p.m., the inspecting officer said he, in company with Constable F. M. Fuller, of the central station, visited and inspected the Town Hall. The hall was in charge of the Auckland Wrestling Association and a wrestling bout was in progress. Patrons in Passageways. "Every part of the hall was overcrowded," the letter added, "the ground floor being dangerously so. Patrons were standing in passageways, and exit doors were obstructed. Instructions were given by him to the secretary of the Wrestling Association to rectify the position, but no action was taken. He drew the chief traffic inspector's and the hall manager's attention to the dangerous state of the hall. The superintendent presented a report to the board, a copy of which had been already sent to the Auckland City Council. The number in the hall at the time, he said, was so far in excess of the number for whom seating accommodation could be provided, that it would have been futile to remove the excess. "The wrestling match was being conducted under the auspices of the Auckland Wrestling Association, and this association, ia granting admission to, and permitting the congregation of the public within the building in the manner described, was guilty of a flagrant breach of the city by-laws and I would request, therefore, that you bring the matter before the council at the very earliest opportunity, that proceedings under the Auckland City Council by-laws be instituted, and a prosecution pressed for." No By-law to Prosecute. "I do not think that it is the intention of the council to have the place over-crowded " said Mr. M. J. Coyle, who is also a member of the Auckland City Council. "It is not the policy of the council that such things should occur." The council, he said, did not want preferential treatment. The Chairman (Mr. J. J. Kingston): You should prosecute your tenant. Mr. Kingston added that in perusing the Fire Brigades Act he had found that by-laws to prosecute in such cases could not be made. Mr. Coyle asked if nothing could be clone. The chairman said that the board might ask for an alteration to the Act. "It seems that nothing will be done until something serious happens," Mr. Coyle added. "And who is going to take the blame then? We would, whether it was pur fault or not. The public would blame us in any case." Finally the chairman said he would take the matter up with the inspector of fire brigades, Mr. R. Girling Butcher, to see if something could bo done to give the board authority.