DANCE HALLS STAYED OPEN TILL MIDNIGHT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18960, 6 January 1930, Page 8

DANCE HALLS STAYED OPEN TILL MIDNIGHT.

Until the By-laws Committee of the City Council meets on January 21 it is unlikely that the position in regard to the order for the closing of dance halls at 11.30 p.m. on Saturdays will be made clear.

The City Council decided that the licenses for dance halls, which are renewable at the beginning of each year, should be subject to the condition that the halls should close at 11.30 p.m. on Saturdays. It is understood, however, that a legal opinion obtained by the council is to the effect that it has no power to enforce this decision.

Last Saturday night was the first on which the new order would have operated. The dance halls, however, remained open till midnight, and they will continue to observe this policy unless it can be made clear that the council’s decision is capable of enforcement.

Mr Reg Stillwell, one of the most prominent of the city’s dance hall managers, said this morning that the restrictions that had already been imposed had done no harm. They had had the effect of enforcing an improvement where dances had been badly conducted.

“ If I ran my dances improperly,” he said, “ the authorities should close me down. To some extent these restrictions are right, especially where dances have been conducted in a * rough ’ way. The dances have been brought up to a good level now, and drinking and other improper conduct have been done away with.”