CORRESPONDENCE

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLV, Issue 277, 27 October 1925, Page 8

CORRESPONDENCE

(To the Editor.) Sir,—ln view of the numerous letters that have appeared in the paper lately withy reference to the above subject, I feel that, in justice to myself and my staff, I should put the position as it actually is clearly before you. In the first place it should be clearly understood that the booking fee paid to mv office is one penny per seat, as authorised by J- C. Williamson Ltd., never any more. The cost of the reserved seats for the reoent Williamson productions was 8s lOd, made up as follows: Admission Bs, Government tax 9d, booking fee Id. Therefore, when Mr Larcomb states in his letter that there is a booking fee of twopence or more per ticket he is clearly making a statement that is not correct, and I certainly think that this gentleman should, before, rushing into print, take the trouble to verify his facts. * It might assist the general public to understand the position better if I outlined clearly the procedure adopted at the booking office. When the plan is opened it is absolutely clear, except for the press seats, the seats reserved by the management, and those booked by the Borough Council, if any. The first arrival is entitled to book as many seats as ho likes, but he is not allowed to book them all at once. He books them party by party, and for each party he books I pencil in an equal number for the country orders which I always receive—that is to say, if the first order is for six seats, then I pencil in six for country clients, if his next order is four, then I pencil m four, and so on. This has been the procedure until the last two bookings, when I have allowed each person booking from the queues to book two parties to the one reserved by me for country members. Some little time ago Councillor Graham, then chairman of the Opera House Committee, was present at one of the bookings to see how it was carried out, and expressed himself as perfectly satisfied that the method adopted was as fair as possible to all concerned.

It should be clearly understood and appreciated from the management’s point of view that country patrons comprise a large proportion of the regular attendance at the performances, and are surely entitled to a certain amount of consideration. So far as Mr Mansford is concerned, although the first night had been very heavily booked by the time he arrived, there were still a few quite good seats available for him, and so far as the second night was concerned there were only approximately 60 seats booked. Mr Mansford could have had two seats on the aisle in row F, which it must be admitted are two of the best seats in the house, and could have had the pick of any number of seats on the right-hand side of the second row of the orchestral stalls, in which row there had been'no bookings at all. Unfortunately, it would appear that Mr Mansford, like Mr Larcomb, although only occasional patrons, expect to receive especial and preferential treatment, for what reason I am quite unaware.

So far as many of the other letters are concerned, it must bo clearly understood that the booking office has nothing whatever to do with the forming of queues at the Opera House, or with the control of the allocation of seats as between the orchestral stalls, the back seats and the pit. These matters are entirely in the hands? of the management. I heartily agree, however, with the writer who maintains that a queue should be formed and kept for those seeking admission for unbooked seats. I think a lot of the difficulty could be overcome if the following suggestions were adopted: (a) If the Borough Council would provide additional paddod seats in the orchestral stalls carrying the present orchestral stalls back four or five rows

and placing the unpadded seats in the pit. (b) If the management of AVilliamson’s could be induced to play extra nights in Palmerston North, because the real difficulty centres round the fact that there are not enough seats to go round when they play each production for only one night in Palmerston North. This will be readily understood when 1 say that I have had hundreds of applications in a recent production for certain seats in 3rd and 4th rows from the front of the orchestral stalls comprising 50 good seats in the Opera House. It is clear surely that somebody is going to get disappointed. (c) If desired the number of seats to be booked by any one person could be restricted. This would not in any way affect the booking office but would only mean that the queue formed would be very much longer and people would have to stand in the queue for a very much longer period. In conclusion, I feel that there has been a good deal of misapprehension and a considerable amount of unjust criticism. I feel that people, before rushing into print, should make proper enquiries and ascertain the full facts of the case. And, I feel further, that anybody with a sense of justice will realise that under the circumstances and the difficulties to be faced, it is impossible to please everybody and that somebody must suffer disappointment and that the system adopted by me in the past and at present in vogue is as fair and just to everybody as it is possible for a booking system to be. —I am. etc..

AVILLIAM OATES