The Star. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1905. OVERCROWDING THEATRES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8250, 24 February 1905, Page 2

The Star. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1905. OVERCROWDING THEATRES.

The decision of the Dunedin City Council, to take power to cancel the license of places of amusement which are dangerously overcrowded, has not come a moment too soon. The " Otago Daily Times" describes it as a belated effort to remedy a very serious evil. It points out that although in the past no grave accidents have been caused by the overcrowding of the Dunedin theatres, the city authorities cannot take much credit for the fact. The Council, it says, does not seem to have concerned itself particularly about the risk of panic in a theatre, beyond requiring that certain necessary steps should be taken, by the provision of fire-escapes. But, as our contemporary justly adds, while adequate fire-escapes undoubtedly constitute a great public safeguard, their efficiency is distinctly minimised when a place of amusement is packed to suffocation, and when all the corridors and passages are blocked by .the presence of people standing jn solid masses. Happily these remarks, -though appropriate to Dunedin, apply only to a very limited extent to Christchurch. There was a time when the overcrowding evil was just as apparent here as it seems to be in the Otago capital. But' that day has passed, we hope never to return. The city authorities very wisely introduced a series of by-laws prohibiting the proprietors of theatres from allowing their premises to bo dangerously overcrowded. These by-laws are not quite as drastic as the regulation which the Dunedin Council proposes to frame, but as long as they are properly administered they may be crusted to serve the purpose • of their authors. They provide that every license for a public building shall bear a statement of the number of persons the building can accommodate; that if the Council should think proper it may limit the number of persons to be admitted- to any portion of the licensed premises ; and that no greater number of persons shall be admitted to, or suffered to remain on, .; licensed premises than is specified in the license. These provisions are clear enough. The weak point in them lies in the provision for their administration. Subsequent by laws provide for, but do not insist on, places of amusement being subjected to inspection. The question of inspecting them is apparently left to the discretion >• of the Council. If it should think fit, the Council may send an inspector to the theatres and other places of entertainment, and if it should take this course the proprietors are compelled to admit the official and follow his instructions. Doubtless the city authorities will always make a poiut of employing an inspector, and seeing that he performs his duty as carefully as its present official does. But it would be more satisfactory were the appointment of an inspector made obligatory for all time. It ought to be laid down as a fixed rulfl that all places of amusement should be subjected to the most careful inspection, with a view & preventing overcrowding.