BEAUTY TO BE ROBBED

Evening Star, Issue 20315, 25 October 1929, Page 7

BEAUTY TO BE ROBBED

“ FURNITURE MUST BE REMOVED " RESPONSIBLE OFFICIALS BEING OVERRULED “Pinpricking tactics to ruin one of tho city’s show places,” is how Mr E. 11. Greenfield, manager of tho Regent Theatre, views the efforts of the corporation officials to have the beautiful furniture and glorious pot plants _ removed from the reposeful and capacious mezzanine foyer in tho theatre. In all modern theatres foyers are provided and decorated and furnished elaborately, and if the City Council succeeds in forcing the destruction of the lounge appointments at least two theatres in Dunedin will lose not a little of their beauty. Tho foyers have been admired for their exquisite charm and restfulness by thousands of visitors, and any attempt to interfere with an architectural feature of the theatre, a scheme of decoration passed by the fire brigade officials and the city building surveyor as being perfectly safe, is, to°bo strenuously contested. Unable to obtain satisfaction from the corporation, Mr Greenfield has handed the whole of tho correspondence to the • Star ’ so that tho public, which holds its theatres in pride, will ■be able tc judge the whole position. “ I thought this was settled. \Vhj am 1 pestered like this. To whom am I responsible—sanitary inspectors oi building inspectors?” In sending on May 6 a copy of a letter bo had received from the sanitary inspector, Mr Greenfield voiced his protest to Mr Gough (City Building Surveyor). The letter from the sanitary department quoted the following extract from the bv-Iaw:—“All gangways and passages and stairways in tho auditorium shall be left free from chairs or other obstructions, whether permanent or temporary.”' Strict observance of the by-law “'in the interests of public safety” was requested. At that time, apparently, no complaint was made of tho furniture in the mezzanine foyer, and after an inspection of the chairs in tho passageway at tho side of tho stalls by the tire superintendent and the building surveyor, alterations were made which satisfied tho requirements of those two officials. However, on October 1-1, the inspector of buildings in tho sanitary inspector’s department wrote; “With reference to tho Regent Theatre, a notice was served upon you on May 6 regarding placing of chairs and other obstructions in tho gangways and passages and staircases, and it is found that you arc complying with the requirements of the city by-laws. I have therefore to inform you that unless all the obstructions aro removed from date hereof in conformity with the terms of the aforesaid by-law, legal proceedings will bo taken.”

In contrast to the by-law quoted in May, the " inspector of buildings,” as Mr" A. L. Smyth now termed himself, sent for the management’s information the following section of the by-law:— “ During the time any building shall be open to the public, the licensee, lessee, or occupier of the premises, the manager of the performance, or other persons for the time being in charge of the same shall conform to any and every order given to him or them by an inspector or other officer appointed by the council or tho Dunedin Fire Board with regard to the opening or closing of any door, barrier, window or ventilator, or tho use of any firoor light, or combustible, or _ explosive matter therein or tho admittance of the public thereto, or there remaining therein, or tho placing of seats or the removal of barriers or other obstructions to egress.” And, said Mr Greenfield, it was this shuffling from one official to another that was the cause of his complaint. One came along and passed everything as satisfactory, another asked that certain alterations should be made, and the third issued an edict that facilities already passed were to be removed, as being contrary to the by-laws. The firo superintendent and the city building surveyor were the proper officials in his opinion. On October 19, regarding the letter of May 6 concerning “ the placing of chairs and other obstructions in gangways and passages, etc.,” Mr Greenfield wrote to the sanitary inspector as follows:—‘‘At that time yon explained to me personally that your complaint referred to three chairs placed at tho back of the stalls in convenient recesses, which wo were using for tho convenience of our ushers, who are young girls whom I did not like to see standing throughout tho whole evening. This matter was satisfactorily settled with the consent of tho superintendent of the fire brigade and > the building surveyor, under whose joint supervision I always understood such matters were controlled. No other obstructions were referred to by you at that time. Of this there can be no question or doubt at all. Since your last letter of October 14 I have made a personal inspection of the theatre, and could find no obstructions as mentioned by you. Failing to understand what you referred to, I called personally to see you tho other day, and was astounded to learn that you referred to tho plants and furniture in tho mezzanine promenade and to tho easels in the vestibule of tho theatre. These have been hero ever since tho theatre has been open, sixteen months, and no objection has been taken hitherto either by tho fire brigade or the building surveyor. Moreover, there is not a theatre in New Zealand, in Australia, and, I may say, the world that docs not have such plants, furniture, and easels. I cannot think your complaints on these items can really be serious. . . In his reply’ Mr Smyth said he regarded the mezzanine promenade as one of the principal passages in the Regent Theatre, and ho was of opinion that every passage and gangway should bo kept clear, of furniture, plants, easels or other obstructions to egress during the time tho building was open to tho public, in order to minimise danger in tho event of panic from any cause whatever. “Ridiculous,” was the term the mayor (Mr R. S. Black) used when he was waited on, said Mr Greenfield; but His Worship was in a quandary when Town Hall officials explained that tho inspector of buildings had full control. When the Regent Theatre was designed by Messrs Miller and. White, architects, the mezzanine foyer was so designed that ample width was provided to allow of furniture and pot plants being placed in the lounge. The foyer is very roomy and much wider than any other passage way in the whole theatre. . > For sixteen months tho furniture, which is of the same period as the furniture in all the other Regent Theatres in Australia ard New Zealand,_ has been in the lourge, and the most fitting answer which the management can give to the complaints of the corporation officials is that not one piece of furniture nor a pot plant has been knocked over. The exits are remarkably clear, and tho time taken in emptying the big theatre on Saturday nights, when every seat is taken, is exactly three and a half minutes, a space of time probably

unbeaten in any building of the same size or below its capacity in the dominion. The site of the Regent adapted itself for rapid emptying of the theatre, exits being provided to tho Octagon by way of the mezzanine lounge and tho main vestibule, and through to Moray p<acc from both the circle and the stalls. Last night a ‘Star’ reporter watched tho exits when the house was coming out. Despite “ the obstructions to egress,” the space in the mezzanine foyer was the least cramped, and the crowd moved quickly out through the doors. “ Tho furniture and pot plants arc not obstructions,” stated Mr Greenfield, and an inspection of the foyer when the public are leaving will convince tho inspectors of that. In case of panic the easels in the vestibule would perhaps cause some bother, but the practice of the management is to have the easels placed securely against the wall a quarter of an hour after each performance commences, the possible obstructions being removed as a matter of course. “ It is absurd that a building passed by capable officials but sixteen months ago should now be subject to such preposterous demands,” said Mr Greenfield. “ Only recently tho theatre was put to considerable expense in meeting demands for improvements to the doorways. It is not fair that we should be put to the expense and worry of a test case, particularly as I was informed at the Town Hall that the Regent was the only large theatre licensed in Dunedin.”