The Star. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 1928. NOTES OF THE DAY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18442, 18 April 1928, Page 8

The Star. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 1928. NOTES OF THE DAY.

A LIMITED NIGHT EXPRESS to Dunedin, as* the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce suggests, is worth a trial. Such a train could reduce the ordinary time occupied on the journey very considerably, and would undoubtedly serve to promote business relations between the two centres. As members of the chamber have said, it is surprising how many Christchurch people take advantage of the night journey to Wellington to spend a day there. A night express to Dunedin ought to have the same influence in promoting an exchange of business visits between the two southern centres. It should be a paying proposition, because experience in all large centres shows that the night express has come to stay. The Sydney-Melbourne railway connection, like the Auckland-Wellington connection, makes full use of the night hours for train travelling, and not only business people but holiday-makers find it very convenient to save a day by this means. We are not at all sure that the general public would not welcome (he innovation even more readily than the business community. takes such a sentimental interest in the old Provincial Council buildings that it could afford to make a very big effort to secure tlicir return to the city. The stone portion of the block is unique, but it has been put to very base uses from time to time, and where Government Departments arc concerned there is always the danger of vandalism. It is unlikely, however, that the Reform Government, which has been openly hostile to Christchurch and Canterbury on account of their Liberal proclivities, will make an unconditional gift of the buildings, and if any headway is to be made in that direction something will have to be offered as an exchange. It is a pity, indeed, that this aspect of the matter was not discussed in connection with the jubilee celebrations, because we cannot help feeling that the citizens were very “ hard up ” for a means of celebrating that anniversary when they turned their attention to the riverside boulevard scheme. However, agitation for the acquisition of the Provincial Council Chambers can go on independently of the anniversary celebrations. We have no doubt that majr valuable uses could be found for the buildings, but the main consideration at present should be to secure them for the city, so that they may be preserved for all time in the state in which the pioneers left them. THE PLANNING of another Christchurch cinema theatre, which will be the most up-to-date and luxurious of its kind in New Zealand or Australia, is an indication not only that the film industry continues to flourish, but that “ the pictures ” are taking a more and more important part in the entertainment of the classes as well as the masses. Longsighted people have never had any doubts as to the wonderful slridcs that the industry was destined to make, but even now the cinema is only coming into its own, and this has been particularly the case in Britain. There, the pictures have become famous overnight, very largely, because the prestige of the Empire called for the resuscitation of the film industry. That was a very difficult problem, in face of strong American opposition, but it was solved by the subtlety of the British leading classes, who decided that if the industry was to make headway the pictures must be made fashionable. The Prince of Wales, the Duke and Duchess of York, Lord •lellicoe and other national figures have helped in that direction not only by patronising the movies, but by appearing before the camera. The Navy, the Army and the Air Force, as national institutions, have been enlisted in the development of that other great national institution, the movies, in which the British people to-day are taking a more lively and patriotic interest. The film industry is an instrument without which no great country can know itself or make itself known to the outer world, and this fact is being recognised even in Imperial outposts like New Zealand. The awakening Imperial interest in the industry, indeed, is a most important factor in the calculations of those who are. preparing for a greater accession of picture-going in British communities.