DANCE HALL FOR RICCARTON.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 19915, 30 April 1930, Page 8

DANCE HALL FOR RICCARTON.

; OTHER SIDE OF QUESTION; When seen yesterday by a representative of The Press regarding some of the comments made at Monday night'» meoting of the Riccarton Borough Council when the application for a license for a Winter Garden and dance hall in Godlcy avenue was under discussion, Mr J. Mawson Stewart expressed the .opinion that some of the speakers had taken a much too pessimistic view. "It is ridiculous to think that a dance hall is a place of iniquity," Mr, Stewart said. "Properly conducted, dance halls are quite good places..What: some of the Councillors failed to grasp,, in connexion with the application, is that the primary idea is that of a Winter Garden suitable for the holding of, wedding parties. In the City there is no place quite suitable for such gather- | ings. Attached to the proposed building will be two acres of very fine garden, and the building and its surroundings will, it is believed, niake an* ideal place for wedding parties. If the dance hall is controlled as the City dance halls are controlled, I cannot see any reasonable grounds for opposition. The Borough Council has the fullest powers in respect of the conditions it can imposo and it can, as has been done in the City, lay it down that once people are in the building they must not leave it, or if they leave it they cannot re-enter it. Then, if the Council's conditions are not carried out, it has the power to refuse to grant a renewal- of the license. But apart from that aspect of the matter, it is most unlikely that those financially interested in the project will conduct the Winter Garden, or dance hall, in a manner detrimental to their own interests. "As to the remarks regarding the nuisance likely to be caused, th? only nuisance will be in connexion with motor-cars, and the police authorities can stop that and, indeed, have stopped it. There would be the same nuisance if it were a theatre instead of a dance hall—people would be cranking up their cars and starting them." Mr Stewart referred to the skating rink recently opened in the City, and detailed the strict regulations that aTC enforced. The result is, he said, that the best people have no hesitation in indulging in skating. At one time, however, some years ago, skating rinks were rather loosely conducted. "In some districts," Mr Stewart said in concluding, "the church schoolrooms supply the place of a dance hall and most respectable dances are held in them under proper edntrol. The

■ church authorities wpuld not tolerate I anything else. In the case of I'endil-' ton, St. Barnabas's schoolroom' is fre^, quently used for dances."