FEWER WENT TO PICTURES LAST YEAR

Chronicle (Levin), 26 April 1946, Page 3

FEWER WENT TO PICTURES LAST YEAR

♦ For ihe .first timo since stat'isticn werc instituted for the industry in ID38-39, the number of paid admissions Lo ciuemas iu New Zealand dcelined last year. The total fell by 2,736,209, or 7.7 per ceut., to 35,520,450, from the peak oi" 38,256,659 recorded in 1933-34. The Census aud Statistics Departmcnt, which prepared tlie iigures, says the decrease largcly arises from the departure from Ncav Zealand of Allied forces. Correspondiug reductions are apparent in most of the revenue and exjienditure figures. There was au increase of 26 in the uiimbcr of tlieutres operating, 16 of these being additional eircuit halls. Jncreases were also shown for ihe numbors of persons engaged and for salarles and wages paid, but these aro attributed, in part, to the improved x'overage in the iatest statistics of elerical eniplovees in the head oiiices of the coutrolling eompanies. In 1944-45 there were 551 theatres ojieratiug, compared with 525 in .194344. The total nuiubers employed in the industry last year are as follow:Males, 15 13; females, 1837. In 1943-44 the figures were: Males, 1495; females, 1705. Of the total employed, 1836 were worlting part-time. Theatre revenue at £2,686,383 and theatre expenditure at £2,226,308 represented decreases of 7.2 per cent. and 1.9 per cent. respeetively on the iigures for 1943-44. The average admission charge works out at 17.5d, ranging from 14.4d for the Westland provincial distriet to 18. 2d for Canterbury. The average charge in 1943-44 was 17.6d, and in 1942-43 17.1d. In calculating these iigures the diiference in admission prices for adults and children and for evening and matinee perfor-mances has been disregarded. Paid admissions to theatres condueted by the Canteen Board in Army aud Air Force camps numbered 520,822 in 1944-45 and 615,080 in 1943-44. ■ The department states that the statistics relate only to picture theatres, and not the motion picture industry as a whole.