A MARSHAL WANTED.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIII, Issue 432, 24 June 1922, Page 5

A MARSHAL WANTED.

FOIL QUEUE AT OPERA HOUSE, Reference lo the scrambling and pushing which occurred at the door of the Opera House lasi night was made by a local te-i----deui when in conversation with a “Standard” reporter to-day. lie stated that a fair number of intending patrons had assembled ■ outside the doors at 6.50 p.m., and their numbers were quickly swelled, till (ho crowd had assumed huge dimensions, a much greater number of people being present than could possibly hope to gain admission. Nobody with any authority to direct those waiting was present, and consequently a queue was not formed. Instead the crowd stood in a -olid mass, funnel shaped, towards the doors. When the barriers were finally opened die rush resembled a stampede, those at the rear surging forward iu an impetuous rush, forcing those iu front against the wall, and in a fair number of instances some who had waited patiently from an early hour were crushed out of the vicinity of die entrance. They had the mortification of seeing others who had arrived an hour later force past thorn towards the ticketbox—and the best seats. Several women and girls received a. severe bruising in the liieiee, which, said the reporter's informant, was “as rough as a Rugby senna.'’ Some years ag p o, he said, a marshal had always been on duty at the pit entrance when a big attraction was: to bo staged, and as a result orderly queues were formed, .Scrambling and jostling were unknown on those happy nights, and ho could set- no rea-on why the Borough Council should not appoint a marshal tn direct theatregoers into a semblance of order, as was done in most tenues.