The Invercargill Times FRIDAY, DECKMBER 4, 1863.

Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 12, 4 December 1863, Page 2

The Invercargill Times FRIDAY, DECKMBER 4, 1863.

During the last session of the Provincial Council of Southland, an Act was passed, having fcr its o ! >ject the better regulation of places of public amusement, such as theatres, concertroonos, wardens, &t\ This act was not passed before it was required, or, at all events, before there appeared a likelihood that it would be required ; for whenever a town suddenly begins to shoot into something like importance, ovvinjj to its proximity to gold fields. then, not only are speculators to be found to build theatres and concerthalls, but the audiences to fill them arc certain not be wanting. Such has been the case in Inv<-rc.ir;jiH ; there are already two or three concert-halls, and a theatre, and a second one will be opened in. the course of a few wepks. We may here remark that the Town Hoard might, if it h;td chosen, have framed a bye-law, embodying ail the clauses ut' the "■■Licensed Theatres Ordinance," and hay ; had ihe benefit of any fees derivable from the granting of licences. Such is the interpretations which we put on a portion of the 57th clause of the Invercjargill " Town Board Ordinance-,* 1 which specifics amongst other things that the Board has the necessary power t© make bye-laws. " For the lico-ns-vßg, regulation, and govern ment of theatres and oHier places of public amusements, and fitting the amount of license fei-s to be paid, and for re^ulatin<; tire collection of the. same.' 1 The Town Board, however, was net very anxious to move in the matter. It appears either to have been in ignorance of the fact, or to have considered the subject beneath its notice. The Provincial Council therefore took the matter out of its hands and passed t the Act to which we above alluded, and which it is reasonable to expict will receive the sanction of the Governor. Few (comparatively speaking) in a civilised community, wiil be found to dispute the assertion that theatres under proper restrictions are of great public benefit in several ways, and fewer still will believe that, *yen if such a course were advisable, it Would be found possible to suppress them. It is rijrht and necessary, therefore, that these places of amusement should be subject to certain regulations, and open !o the in spection of properly constituted authorities ; for, if on the one hand they atFord a means, both of harmless amusement, and a class of mental culture nowhere else obtainable, on the other hand, they may, and sometimes do, degenerate into schools for vice and in'amy. But, however necessary it may be that this supervision should be rigidly exercised, it is with the public that the most effective means of control rests. Let the slightes departure from the strictest code of morality be visited on " the management' 1 by empty benches, and the evil is at an end. 'Ihe couplet- in Johnson's witty prologue Well embody the truth — " The drama's kws (lie drama's patrons give. For wo that live to p!<>nse must please to live. ' We by no means wish our remarks to be taken as having reference to any theatrical entertainment which has hitherto taken place in this town. If our actors have failed to display any great amount of talent, they have avoided, so far as we know, the fault of coarseness, or sometimes even worse, which is so frequently to be met with in minor theatres ; but we are pointing out a danger wl.ich may at any moment assail the community, and which can on'y be successfully combated in the manner we have mentioned. A. well-written and well-acted play is, in our opinion, calculated to impress on the mind some of the great lessons of life with a force, the magnitude of which it is difficult to estimate ; whilst the maudlin ■seutimei tality and thinly veiled indelicacies of the modern French school of drama, of which the English sta^e can now boast a hundred translated specimens, are certain before long to teach a lesson of another kind, and one which it were as well to be unacquainted with. Before we close this article, it seems prudent to add a few words of caution on a point which, in too many instances, receives but small attention, either faom the public or the owners of theatres. It is very seldom that the means of egress from a theatre are what they should be. An alarm of fire once raised in a crowded house, and loss of life is almost certain to ensue — not perhaps from the fire itself, but because the audience rush with frenzied haste to the doors, through which only three or four can pass at one time. Invercargiil does not stand alone in having an Ordinance providing for this emergency. Other places have the benefit of a. law enabling the authorities to compel the proprietors of theatres and concert halls to have doorways of sufficient size to allow the audience to pass through in a very short space of time ; but still the matter is very often neglected. If it has been thought necessary to pass such enactments in plae. s where the buildings are, as a rule, constructed either of brick or stone, how much greater is the necessity in a place where wojd is the only

material -employed, and the flames would spread with wonderful rapidity. Should, htnvever, a fire occur in one of the theatres or eoncort rooms of InvercargiH,- we venture to say that the clanger to life and limb would be greater from the crush which would take place than from the fire. We hope that the police, to whom will be entrusted the duty of seeing the '* Licensed Theatres Ordinance " duly carried out, will in no case let any of its provisions remain disregarded.