PESSIMISM IN WELLINGTON

Stratford Evening Post, Volume I, Issue 257, 8 October 1931, Page 4

PESSIMISM IN WELLINGTON

RELIEF"™" GET BACK TO TARANAKI Picture Houses Feel Position BUSINESS AND FILM OUTLOOK MR. A. COLEMAN'S IMPRESSIONS "Practically all the leading 1931 programmes, both English and American productions, will be screened in the King's Theatre, Stratford, in the near future," said Mr. A. Coleman, chairman of directors of the Stratford Pictures and Amusements, Limited, to the "Evening Post' r yesterday, when giving his impressions of the picture business and the commercial outlook generally after a week spent in Wellington. Mr. Coleman was in the Empire City on legal busnesss and took the opportunity of moving in ipcture circles and also meeting politicians and men in influential positions with a view to learning their opinions on commercial affairs generally. "As a matter of business and in connection with future programmes to he screened at the King's Theatre," lhe said. "1 talked with the managers of several of the leading film exchanges on the question of supplies. Picture patrons will be pleased to learn that in the near future practically all the leading 1931- programmes wi!l be shown at the King's. These will include both English and American productions. Indeed, some of films actually shown in last week will be screened in Stratford during this week and next week. All the film exchanges reported that business was very bad, the returns having fallen away in some cases almost to the vanishing point. The position' of the Wellington picture' theatres is very serious as regards the volume of business being done, the receipts falling off tremendously, notwithstanding that all the theatres recently Riade very considerable reductions in the scale of admission charges In the leading houses the dress circle charge has been reduced

from 3s 5d to 2s 10d, and the charge to the stalls is down to 2s 3d. These include the amusement tax in eacn case. Nevertheless the attendance ofc the public is most disappointing. This • state of affairs, no doubt, is entirely • due to the economic depression at pre- • sent existing. Last Friday night, • which is the late night in Wellington, : being equivalent to Saturday night i in Stratford, the stalls in a first-class ■ theatre, showing an excellent AL- . British film, were only about one-third full, and the attendance in the circle ■ was less. The position in Wellington 1 is merely a reflection of what is hap- > pening in the country districts, where. 1 indeed, the business returns are" yec> much worse. "No improvement can be looked for until times change materially for the better, and until the pub- ' lie are again in the position of being able to devote a larger proportion of their income for the purposes of amusement and recre- > ation. 3 "The leading theatres and film con--3 cerns are having a bad time throughr out Australia and New Zealand, and i huge losses have been made by some - Australian companies, amounting to between £BO,OOO and £IOO,OOO during the past twelve months."

Pessimism in Business Circles » "As regards buiness generally," add- - ed Mr. Coleman, "there is a far greati er spirit of pessimism in Wellington i than in Taranaki, the reason largely f being that the Wellington commercial men and the banking interests look 1 on things more from the point of view 3 of the importer, whereas up in Tara--1 naki we consider the financial aspect 5 more from the point of view of thfir 3 . exporter. The heavy exchange raxo E between New Zealand and London op- " ero.tes in favour of the exporter, to ' the extent of about a penny a lb. £ butter-fat, whereas it works practically opposite and to the same extent against the importer as regards his remittances to England. On top o£ 3 this, the abandonment of the gold v ' standard has given the exporter a furs ther advantage, with a corresponding Y , disadvantage to the importer, who now has to pay about 25s for every y pound's worth of goods imported from ;. America and the other countries still i on the gold standard. This cause, toj gether with the uncertainty which existed last week as to the nature of s the anticipated taxation proposals in. j the Supplementary Budget, combined I to make everyone in the Capital City ~ very pessimistic and gloomy in his or e her outlook." Mr. Coleman concluded: "It was certainly a relief to return to Taranaki, where conditions appear . t l to be more helpful to the bulk of a the population than in the large ;. cities."