AUCKLAND NEWSLETTER

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 56, Issue 4047, 13 May 1938, Page 7

AUCKLAND NEWSLETTER

ITEMS FROM HERE AND THERE. SHOW WEEK. (An, Occasional Correspondent.) Although . the suddenly-awakened interest in the municipal elections overshadowed the Show, or, to give it its full title, the Auckland Winter Exhibition, nevertheless there have been great doings at Epsoim. When it was decided to move the Show from the wharves, where it was so handy to town, pessimists predicted an early demise, but even with four sections to travel the crowds are arriving at Epsom, and indeed on the Saturday the Show was almost crowded out. When it comes to comparing the two shows, the Waikato Winter Show is a street ahead and round the corner; still, the city exhibition is improving, and with the new location and the proposed new buildings, it should make great strides in the next year or so. The ring events this year have been exceptional, the chariot races in particular arousing great interest and enthusiasm. There is something about the show atmosphere that makes sober citizens remember their childhood; so we see normally dignified business men consuming “hot dogs and elderly ladies with their faces surrounded by that ghastly confection known as candy floss. You know the kind—pink, woolly stuff that turn, hard and sticky as soon as one gets within, nibbling distance. THEATRE FIRE. The disastrous fire at the Plaza Theatre last week, when over £2OOO worth of equipment was destroyed, brings back memories of the old silent days when the Plaza, then the Princess, was, with the now-departed Everybody’s, pre-eminent in Auckland entertainment world, and maintained, under the baton of Mr George Poore, a large and splendid orchestra. In those days a long-run picture was truly long run: “The Ten Commandments ” ran for eleven consecutive weeks at Everybody’s, and returned later to run another several weeks in Queen Street. With the coming of the talkies and the building of the new super cinemas, the older theatres dropped back. Everybody’s and the Hippodrome disappeared, and others descended to being return houses- The Princess, however, emerged re-named and re-modelled, and prior to the fire still held its own as a first-run theatre against its gigantic rivals. With the replacement of the destroyed equipment no doubt it will soon take up the running again, for theatres may come and go but the Plaza seemingly goes on for ever. THE EBB-TIDE OF LABOUR. The defeat of Labour in the city election provides some considerable grounds for believing that the tide has turned. While Sir Ernest Davis undoubtedly owes a great deal to personal votes, there is no doubt that a revulsion against party politics in local government had much to do with the rejection of such popular Labour men as Messrs T. Bloodworth and J. S. Stewart. Most significant however, is that with a record poll practically all the new votes should go against Labour. Aparently the efficient Labour machine had gathered in all its supporters at last election and had no reserve to draw upon while the bulk of the people who abstained from voting on previous occasions voted Citizens’ t’cket. The moral is there to be drawn for the national elections. Increase the numbers of people voting, and you increase the National vote. In the face of the Labour losses Mr Hamilton’s prediction of city gains in the Parliamentary elections seems a reasonable forecast. WHO STANDS IF FREEDOM FALLS. In conversation with Professor Algie this week 1 learned that the Auckland Provincial Freedom Association has been making such progress that it is proposed to extend Dominion-wide and to have a branch in every centre where there are a few members. This had not been originally intended, but so great has been the demand for such an organisation in other parts of the country that it is considered ad visable to move on the demand. Professor Algie, who has recently returned from a very successful campaign of the King Country, is undertaking a tour of the Waikato, beginning on 23rd May. The Association is not tied to the National Party, the professor says, but exists primarily for the purpose of keeping alive public interest at all times and not only during election periods. It is the aim of the Association to become a force for good government, offering its advice and co-operating with any government working for the national good. LION IN THE DANIEL'S DEN. Whatever one may think of the professor’s policy, one cannot deny'his courage when one learns that he is to address the People’s University next Sunday. This organisation’s meetings are attended by some of our very best radicals, who gave a very stormy passage to Mr F. Doidge when he addressed them last winter. Professor Algie is quite unperturbed at the imminence of the ordeal, being confident that the strength of his argument will leave little scope for intelligent criticism. On e imagines that the charming personality of the professor will prove sufficient to disarm his most violent critics-