IS SMOKING IN LOUNGE FORBIDDEN?

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18585, 10 October 1928, Page 4

IS SMOKING IN LOUNGE FORBIDDEN?

OARD DISCUSSES THE* DUTIES OF FIREMEN.

The practice of smoking in the Muni•ipal Concert Hall was mentioned by Mr K. W. Robinson at last night'? meeting of the Christchurch-Eire Board. Te said that the fireman stationed here had recently asked men who vere smoking in the lounge to move o the smoking-room upstairs. He had poken to the fireman, who said that he did not know what rule he was icting under, but that he had been intrusted to stop smoking in the lounge Mr Robinson, said that it seemed ibsurd.. to_ stop smoking in the lounge, ind to allow it. upstairs. A fireman was not employed by an authority con.roiling a theatre; he must carry out duties imposed by the board, and the board should have some rule. No notice forbidding smoking had been posted in the lounge. Some business men who were smoking in the lounge on the occasion mentioned were annoy ad at being ordered to move. If it was because of the ladies, it was not within the fireman's duties. If it was a question of safety, it was the fireman's job. Mr Robinson said that he would ■ike to see the practice of stopping smoking in perfectly safe parts of a theatre discontinued. Superintendent. C. C. Warner, who was called in, said that men were allowed to‘smoke in the lounge, but the fireman seemed to think that, as there was an apartment set aside for smoking, men should smoke there, not in the lounge. Mr Robinson: Suppose a lady wanted to go out and smoke in the lounge? A member: So they do. Mr Robinson: It is just as safe in the lounge as in the smoking-room. Superintendent Warner: That is so. Mr Robinson: I am not criticising, but I think that a fireman at a theatre should understand the rules on the subject. The discussion ended with a remark by the Mayor: "The fireman, knowing that there is a smoking-room, thought that the men should smoke in it.”