SUNDAY CONCEITS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20926, 16 July 1931, Page 12

SUNDAY CONCEITS.

QUESTION OF LEGALITY.

TEST CASE BEFORE COURT.

MAGISTRATE RESERVES JUDGMENT

The organising secretary of the Auckland Philosophical Society, Arthur Douglas Wylie, was prosecuted in the Magistrate's Court yesterday before Mr. W. R.MeKean, S.M., on a charge of holding an entertainment on Sunday without having first obtained the permission of the City Council. Mr. H. J. Butler, ;\vho appeared for the City Council, • stated that for some time defendant had caused entertainments to be held each Sunday evening in the Civic Theatre, contrary to the provisions of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1920, ,• which required permission to; be obtained from the controlling local authority. '.

These programmes, continued counsel, Were advertised in the newspapers and consisted mainly of talking pictures and. musical items, although a brief lecture was also given.' Admission was by silver coin, but anybody could reserve a seat upon payment of Is. Although it was advertised that a portion of the proceeds were to be devoted to the relief of unemployment the council had not been 'able' to ascertain the amount given to charity. The defendant had not made application for permission to hold Sunday entertainments. Objects of the Society Stated. Two City Council officials gave evidence of' having attended an entertainment in the Civic Theatre on Sur.day, June 14. On that occasion pictures, variety items and a, brief lecture, entitled "Toleration," by Mr. Slipp&r, comprised the programme. On the following day one of the officials called at the society's office. There were several. women there applying for relief and everything seemed to be in order. Defendant, in evidence, stated that in the minutes of the Philosophical Society, which was not an incorporated body, it was provided that one-third of the net proceeds should be utilised for an unemployed women's and girls' fund. The amount given to charity had exceeded • the profits and the society was now in debt. The organisation also had found practically 200 positions for hitherto workless people. _ / Replying to Mr. Butler, witness said he was to have received a salary of £5 a week as secretary, but he had not been paid for some time and his salary was £3O in arrears. The books of the. society were kept by a registered book-keeper, but witness did not know they were audited, as he was only concerned with the Sunday meetings. Mr. Hall Skelton and trustees, he said, were in charge of the society's affairs. Lecture Declared Main Attraction. . In regard to thp Sunday meetings, witness said no definite charge fcr admission had ever been made, but the society had announced that any reasonable donation of Is or more would reserve jv seat. There were .usually, from 200 to 300 seats reserved, but they were not all paid for. Witness he knew of no case where admission had been refused and many people bad. attended the meetings without donating anything. Witness retained the right, however, to debar certain people who had caused damage to i seats in the theatre. Witness . said that without doubt the ijnain iterh 'on each Sunday's programme was the.' lecture.p The Magistrate: .From whose point oi: *-view are you speaking ? $ Witness: From the intellectual person's. Witness said the 'musical items and • pictures were to attracf• jt.eopls to the theatre to hear the lecture. Church Bells and Salvation Army. Mr* BuOer: So you have the Melody ' Boys' String Band to get people to go and hear Mr. Hall Skelton speak ? Witness: People would not go to church if the bell was not rung. I suppose you put the band in the ■'same position as the church bell ?—I do. Mr. Slipper, who appeared for the de- , fence, said that as reference had been "made to church bells he would submit that these bells, some of which played ' tunes, and the Salvation Army meetings, were in a similar position to the Philosophical Society's meetings. The Magistrate: Are you suggesting that a church service is an entertainment ? Mr. j. Slipper: No, but I am suggesting that the tunes played by church. bells 'and the Salvation Army band are as much entertainments as the Philosophical Society's concerts. Mr. Slipper said it was unfortunate that no •• definition of the word "entertainment" was given in the Act. It was for • the prosecution to prove that the cpncert element was the dominant part of tile programme in question. ■ "Some people may have found your . lectures entertaining," suggested the magj istrate. "And some may have found them uncomfortable," rejoined Mr. Slipper. Definition of "Entertainment." : Counsel said it was evident that the City Council did not want to face the question oL Sunday concerts. Programmes ' had been given by the Rationalists for a long while, but nothing happened until • the Philosophical Society came into being j and the questions of "Samoa" li' Toleration" were brought up. * Mr. Butler submitted that as "enter'tainment" was not defined in the Act, the Court should give the word its usual meaning. In announcing that he would give his decision on Wednesday the magistrate remarked: "If the lecture is to be re garded as the pill, it seems to have a i very thick sugar coating about it. As this is a test case perhaps I should reserve judgment, but I do not think any ■ amount of deliberation will induce me ;to come to consider that the programme ■ Was anything else than an entertainment, rl have to take the ordinary meaning of fjfhe word."