ENGLAND IN 1936.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 22, 27 January 1936, Page 6

ENGLAND IN 1936.

A THEATRE EXPERIMENT. (By XELLE M. SCAN LAN.) ; LONDON, January 2. The dirty face of 1935 gave place to the dirty face of 1930. There was no change in , the grim, grey, wet, dreary face of London. '•There are still people who make good resolu- ' tions on New Year's Eve and decide to do | better in the coming year. The weather was . not one of these optimists. In that now ; famous phrase of the politician, it determined > t.o "go on and on and on," but it omitted the . other half, to "go up and up and up." The barometer went steadily down. Even the All Blacks are threatened by the ' floods and their effect. To-morrow they play 1 the most important match of their tour at Twickenham, and Twickenham is near the Thames. You great-grandfathers may remem- ■ ber singing, "Oh, row me across Twickenham • Ferry." It may come to that yet. When underwriters at Lloyd's were yesterday asked > to quote a rate of insurance against the risk 1 of cancellation of the match, scouts were sent ' hurrying off to Twickenham to inspect the ground and consult the weather oracles. They reported that the going was heavy, but if no ® more rain fell, then the risk was not really J great. Now the sun is struggling through, so our champions will have their chance to [ roll England in the mud. The Old Year went out in a spate of disasters: fire, flood, storms at sea and crashing aeroplanes filled the news. Against this must be weighed the very considerable improvement in trade. Good times have come again - to England, and there is a hopeful feeling in ! the air. Despite the vast increase in road traffic, ' there were 522 fewer people killed on the roads in 1935 than in 1934, and 12,805 fewer ' injured. Much of this is due to the campaign waged by the Minister of Transport, Mr. HoreBelislia, with the aid of the Press. People have been made conscious of the risk of the road, and motorists and pedestrians are being trained to keep ever in mind the danger of carelessness and inuttention. Children, too, are being taught at school, and each year should see the population accepting the regulations made for their safety with mounting enthusiasm. Cyclists are still rather rebellious, and inclined to flaunt their equal right to the road, and deprecate the introduction of cycle tracks for their special use. Rail Travel and Telephones Cheaper. Cheap third-class railway tickets, available from 5 p.m. onwards, were introduced a short time ago in London, and nearly three-quarters of a million of these have been sold, so the experiment will now become permanent. These are available from stations within 20 miles of the West End of London, and cost less than id per mile. Theatres, concert halls and cinemas are benefiting by this. The business world is learning the value of co-operation, and "filling up the slack" in a service at cheaper rates is turning loss into profit. Long-distance telephone calls at a shilling began at 5 p.m. instead of 7 p.m. on New Year's Eve, and by midnight the many lines in use had become congested by the sudden demand from Scots wishing to speak to relatives at home. Aberdeen established a record, though there was also a big increase in the number of telephone greetings from one part of England to another, and also to the Continent. For some time past the theatre has been employing a half-price method of keeping seats full. New plays often have to be-nursed for several weeks before they get iirmly established. This takes money, and at times the actors agree to accept a nominal salary in an endeavour to keep the show going during this trying period. Recently a new play, a comedy, by St. John Ervine, though it received good notices from the Press, hung fire for several weeks, and the management threatened to withdraw it. The artists suggested carrying on at a nominal salary, but Mr. Mitchelhill did not like the idea. He agreed, however, to the production continuing, the actors and actresses to take all the profits and share them and ho retained only the film rights. This was done. The following week Mr. Sydney Carroll, the Australian producer and critic, devoted his article in the "Daily Telegraph" to this play. Immediately the attendance improved. Laet week the actors received their full salaries, and 25 per cent profit. This week they will have full salaries and 50 per cent profit as well. In most cases of nursing a play, one of those unknown magnates, usually from the North or Midlands, puts up the money to carry on. Here is a new method, and one that may be repeated. Half-price System. A point comes in every production when bookings begin to fall off, and the end draws near. This is where the half-price system comes into play. You pay a nominal fee of 2/0 and join a sort of discount society, and i it will supply you with two scats—usually the i higher priced seats —for the cost of one. You i can't buy one 5/ seat, but you can get two 10/ i stalls for the one 10/., Some theatres have ' brought this into force for the cheaper seats < now. You may hear complaints from the 1 people who sit next to you, and who have paid < full price, but that is their bad luck or lack i of enterprise. Most plays which have been running for a time in London are now being - sustained by this half-price system. In some < cases it means packed houses every night, and ' though the profit is less, there is a profit, and i it also has the advantage of keeping the actors - employed and the theatre staff on the pay roll, t The New Year sees a new law in force. It ; is designed to reduce the number of persons 1 sent to gaol for debt. Far too many people I were wasting time in gaol who might be employed earning the money to pay off their obligations. But new laws usually have loop , holes for the escape of those it was not , intended to benefit. Yesterday, when the law was put into operation, a magistrate discharged a dozen men who were found guilty of being drunk and disorderly on New Year's Eve, as under this new dispensation, it was no use imposing a fine, for the process of enforcing it would prove expensive and com- ® plicated. So the dozen culprits went off quite J cheerfully. A fine or the option has now a new meaning. !j