SUNDAY PICTURES

Greymouth Evening Star, 18 June 1912, Page 5

SUNDAY PICTURES

WHA'f THE DUNEDIN STAR SAYS,

[uv TELEGRAPH—SPECIAL TO THE STAR.]

DUNEDIN, This Day. On the subject of Sunday entertainments the Dunedin Star says, editorially :

“The Greymouth fkirough Council took a step which should -gain the approval of most thinking people. For some time past Grey mouth has had the distinction of being the only town in New Zealand.where Sunday night moving picture shows have been permitted. There is no general law prohibiting this kind of thing, the matter being left in the hands of the local authority, and <ip this case Die Greymouth Borough Council, for a time, saw fit to grant the necessary license to the two houses established there in the cinematograph 'business. There does not seem to - have been anything objectionable in the class of picture submitted; but that is not the point which is that (as one councillor put it) the day of rest should not be used as a day of gain. Apparently, even the subterfuge of a “silver coin . collection”, was not relied on, for admission to one part of the house at least could only be gained on payment of a shilling. There shrould be no hardship entailed on- anyone, through Greymonth’s decision to fall into line with public opinion and practice iii this matter throughout the dominion. The motion picture business is popularly believed to be by no means unprofitable to those who have embarked in it; but even if it were not so-that would not be,the slightest justification ' for -i management seeking revenue on a, Sunday. Neither should . any plea that the patronage accorded showed the entertainment to fill a public requirement he of any weight. Though there is a minority who would have no conscientious scruples in attending Sunday night entertainments there is a considerable majority who have, in the interests of parents who do not wish their children to grow up in an environment which tends towards , a minimum of differentation between Sunday and week days. In the interests of the children themselves the repression of all such encroachments by enterprising managers is timely- For that reason the action of the Grey mouth Borough Council takes on more significance than would otherwise be the case. If a certain section of public opinion should feel inclined to hint 'at “wowserism,” it is merely necessary to remind them that it is only when authority, not content with requiring decency, requires sanctity that it oversteps the bounds which mark its proper funcDon. In this case the Grey mouth authorities are only requiring decency in the matter of Sunday observance.