FREE THEATRE SEATS

Taranaki Daily News, 6 August 1930, Page 3

FREE THEATRE SEATS

EAGER CABINET MINISTERS. secretaryVallegation. Sydney, July 24. There was a stir in political and theatrical circles in Australia when Mi. Percy Deane, formerly secretary of tne Prime Minister’s Department in the Federal Government, giving evidence before a Roval Commission in Canberra this week, said that he.had been almost worried to death by Cabinet Ministers pestering him for letters to theatre managers asking for free seats a theatres. •, . „ i Mr. Deane, who was. before the Koya! Commission inquiring into allegations ot bribery against members of t-he Fedeial Public Accounts Committee, added that Mr. Bruce, the ex-Prime Minister, was one of the worst offenders in this rc : spect, and that he always demanded a box for his party. • When the House of Representativemet, questions were fired, at Mr. Sculhn rkht and left, and he called for a statement from Mr. Deane. This was presented. and. purged any members of the present Federal Cabinet from blame m the matter. - The directors of Messrs. J. C. Wiliiami son issued, a statement at the week-end. It read:. “If a tradition of hospitality is to be misconstrued, we welcome the opportunity it now provides, of discontinuing summarily what is i-eally an unnecessary incubus on our business. They added that if had. been the practice for the firm to entertain distinguished visitors and vice-regal parties at their many theatres throughout Australia, but ‘although they tried their utmost to fulfil the wishes of Cabinet Ministers and members of Parliament when they asked for free , seats, it often meant a further loss to them in an already nonpaying house. “What was once a privilege which we thought rested with us to° befetow seems' to have been looked upon as a right ' by some Parliamentarians.”- ■ Mr. Bruce, who is now in England, cabled his Australian attorney when he heard of Mr. Deane’s statements, and sent a complete denial of the charges made, “On no occasion,’’ declared Mr. Bruce, “did I request or authorise anyone on my behalf to-request any theatiical "producer to provide me with fr # ee seats. When I became Prime Minister, I understood that it had been the practice of all theatres, as an act of courtesy, to place boxes at the disposal of the Prime Minister whenever he visited a theatre. This practice I acquiesced in, although I did not like it, as it appeared to me that it would be churlish to decline what I imagined was designed as a high compliment to the office which, for the time, I held, “In fact,’’ added Mr. Bruce, “I often stayed away from theatres for fe'ar of meeting any of the management and being pressed into a box 'when I might only desire to enjoy inyself in a quietseat as a private individual.” Members of the House of Representatives have asked the Prime Minister to institute an inquiry into the statements of Mr; Deane.