MOTION PICTURES ON CHRISTMAS NIGHT

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 61, 7 December 1943, Page 4

MOTION PICTURES ON CHRISTMAS NIGHT

Wellington Permission NO COMPULSION ON EMPLOYEES

Permission for the exhibition of motion pictures on the evening of Christmas Day was granted by the Wellington City Council at a meeting yesterday afternoon. A deputation was received from the New Zealand Motion Picture Exhibitors’ Association. Mr. O. R. Edmond, on behalf of the association, said that Christmas Day this year fell on a Saturday, and if the theatres were not open there would 'be no entertainment for the public from Friday to Monday. Many young people were at present in Wellington engaged on war work and living in rooms and boarding-houses. They had limit«l opportunities for entertainment and recreation in the city and lack of travel facilities might make it impossible for them to return to their homes for the holidays. On their behalf he urged the opening of theatres. No theatre employees would be forced to work, he said, but he suggested 'that they should be entitled to do bo if they wished at. the stipulated ovetrime rates. “Provided no one is compelled to work and no one is compelled to attend, there surely can be no objection,” he said, adding that permission for opening had already been given in Auckland, Christchurch and Dunedin.

In reply to Cr. R. McKeen, Mr. Edmond said that the operators' union had intimated that staff would not be available, but exhibitors believed that some would desire to work. They would receive two days’ pay for one performance instead of the customary two; and front-of-the-liouse staff would receive triple time. No one would be compelled to work, or suffer auy disability if he did not. After the deputation had withdrawn, the mayor, Mr. Hislop, said he was in favour of granting the request. He moved accordingly. Cr. R. L. Macalister seconded the motion. Wellington was often a dead city in the holidays, and it seemed desirable to provide entertainment for those who had to stay in town, he said. Cr. M. Fraser said he thought the request might be granted in the special circumstances of the times, but that should not be taken as a precedent for the future.

Cr. R. 11. Nimnio suggested that programmes should be subject to censorship by the town clerk. Cr. W. H. Stevens opposed the censorship suggestion. He doubted whether the town clerk bar] the particular ability, or the desire, to view programmes and say whether they were right or wrong. Cr. McKeen said that Mr. Edmond should have consulted the union and obtained confirmation of the statement that it was not putting any obstacle in the way of the employment of members on Christmas Day.

yCr. R. A. Wright said ft was entirely •a matter for the employees to say whether they would work or not. If they did not, the exhibitors could not open. He did not think there would be any objection from any section of the Christian Church to the opening of theatres. Not a great many churches paid particular attention to Christmas Day. Most of them celebrated it as a day of rejoicing. Cr. Knox Gilmer said that in normal times she might have objected to opening on the grounds that Christinas Day was a holy day. However, times were noi normal and it was desirable for the many young folk in town to have somewhere to go. She expressed the, hope that exhibitors would use discretion iu selecting suitable programmes.