MONEY RETURNED

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 102, 2 May 1935, Page 5

MONEY RETURNED

THEATRE PROJECT.

REPERTORY SOCIETIES.

SUPPORT NOT SUFFICIENT.

The proposal to erect in Auckland a theatre to serve the needs of the various amateur dramatic societies of the city has been abandoned for the time, owing to lack of financial support. Application money for shares has been returned to those who had shown their practical sympathy with the scheme, but the subscribers have been invited to contribute to a trust fund to form the nucleus of a building fund.

The scheme, briefly, was to build a theatre, at an estimated cost of £29,000, on a site in Upper Queen Street, over which an option had been taken. It was to be capable of accommodating 900 people. It was intended to make it the headquarters of dramatic art in Auckland. Though subscriptions were Invited as an investment it was pointed out that the maximum return on the money would not exceed o per cent. Primarily tne purpose of the theatre was to render the various societies independent of municipally or privately owned halls or theatres, and to further the development of art.

In a circular to subscribers the promoter, Mr. J. D. Swan, states that the return of the money must be considered an admission of defeat so far as the project is concerned from an investment point of view. "The support accorded, while not sufficient to carry into effect the original plans, is sufficiently encouraging to provide conviction that the object is worth while proceeding with, and many of the supporters have suggested that the scheme should be proceeded with on a very modified plan.

"On the assumption that you are more interested in the scheme from its artistic angle than from the investment viewpoint, I take the liberty of suggesting that you should return your

application money to be held in trust by the present directors as trustees, and to be used in such a method as the majority of subscribers might desire. If this 'meets with the support I hope, when the money has been received into the trust fund I suggest calling a meeting of all who have subscribed or donated, that meeting to appoint trustees and decide on a future plan of campaign."