"THE FIRM'S" VENTURE

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18548, 25 November 1925, Page 6

"THE FIRM'S" VENTURE

FILMS AND VAUDEVILLE. THEATRE CIRCUIT IN N.Z. (SI'ECUI, TO "THE MESS.") AUCKLAND, November 24. Sir George Tallis and Messrs E. J. Tait and F. S. Tait have, iix association with Messrs Prank Thring and Beaumont Smith, decided .to form a. new business for New Zealand, under the name of "J. C. Williamson Films, Ltd., Now Zealand," for moving picture's and vaudeville, and to build a, circuit of theatres in the Dominion. The organisation will shortly begin the construction of a theatre in Queen street, Auckland, estimated to cost £140,000,, on a site which has .been in the possession of J. C. Williamson, Ltd., for a considerable time, and at the same time it will start, the remodelling of the 'old Opera House in Wellington. •Mr. Beaumont Smith, who has been appointed managing, director, with Mr F. W. Thring, arrived by the Niagara, accompanied by Mr C H. Baliantyne, of Melbourne, the architect who is to-, complete ' the plans and specifications for the new theatre. It is claimed that it will be one of the most up-to-date in New Zealand. "This project has beott iu our minds for severul years,'' said a representative of the firm in Sydney, alluding to the new venture. "The reason fortius was mainly because of our holding the line site in Queen street, Auckland, and the old Opera House in Wellington. These two properties will form starting points for the proposed circuit of theatres."