“CATE CRASHERS.”

Evening Star, Issue 20468, 26 April 1930, Page 14

“CATE CRASHERS.”

We sincerely hope that the lie turned Soldiers’ Association Executive will not bo hold accountable for the regrettable exhibition of Jack of sell-control by some of those seeking admission to the Dunedin Town Hall yesterday afternoon. It is estimated that between six and seven thousand people assembled outside the building, which is about double tlio number it can accommodate. Presumably many of them arc unfamiliar as yet with the location of the entrances to various sections of the halls. Making .mistakes in this matter, they possibly became agitated, and began what developed into a most incongruous preliminary to the solemn service to follow. The. Returned Soldiers’ Association provided ushers in numbers equal to what had proved ample when the Drill Hall was utilised on Anzac Day, but when a crowd gets out of hand the services of a far larger number of ushers than ivould seem adequate in ordinary circumstances are rendered nugatory. One assumes that in a civilised community, especially on such an occasion, all that should be needed on the part of the management is direction; control must bo exercised by ' the individual members of the assemblage themselves. In a word, self-control is a civic virtue, and it is not reassuring to observe among largo gatherings that its exercise lends to he on the decrease. It would bo doubly regrettable if the Town Hall should thus early gain a reputation as an exemplar of the decay of good manners.