SUNDAY CONCERTS

Grey River Argus, 21 September 1945, Page 4

SUNDAY CONCERTS

COUNCILLORS’ OPINIONS

The question of the Council’s stand regarding Sunday concerts came up at last evenings meeting of the Greymouth Borough Council when a letter was received from the secretary of the Blackball-Nelson Creek-Nga-here R.S.A., applying for permission to conduct a concert in the Regent Theatre on Sunday, October 21. The Mayor (Mr F. A. Kitchingham) said that a matter of principle was raised. The.y struck enough trouble, he said, in letting Greymouth organisations put on concerts on Sunday nights. In letting country organisations do that they would have further difficulties. First there was the theatre staff who had to work overtime or were expected to give their services free. Then there was the question of buses for transporting people from the country. It was a question on which! they would have to get a ruling or make up their minds.

Or. F. F. Boustridge said that at a recent concert one item was so far “over the odds” that many of the audience had walked out. He suggested that they should decline requests for Sunday night concerts. Or. P. Blanchfield objected to this. He said that the concert undei' question was sponsored by the R.S.A. and that a worthy cause should not be turned down.

If they refused permission, said Cr G. R. Harker, they would not be consistent as they were allowing pictures every Sunday night. Cr Boustridge said' that organisations which wanted to run concerts had six other nights a week and they should use those nights.

The Mayor said that -the pictures were a well-established thing for the people of Greymouth. If people from the country came by buses to Sunday night concerts it would be surprising how the net profits of the show would drop. There was a difference, he said, between travelling 20 or 30 miles to a concert and walking to it Cr Boustridge’s motion that permission should not be granted was carried, Cr Blanchfield’s being the only dissenting vote.