TOWN HALL TENDERS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1001, 16 December 1910, Page 2

TOWN HALL TENDERS.

TEE SYSTEM CKITICISED. "I was surprised on my arrival here," said Mr. Leonard S. Monk, director of tho Lawrence Campbell recitals; to a Dominion reporter, "to find that tenders were required for the holiday dates at both the big and small Town Halls. I think the system is far from being a good one as managers of companies or entertainers desirous of using tho class of hall supplied by the city are at a disadvantag®. It is always the aim of a manager to book well ahead. I am the successful tenderer for the Concert Chamber on Docember 26 and 27, and am paying about double the hire charged local concert promoters; but I ivas not sure of my position until tho successful tenderers wove announced in yesterday's Dominion", and' consequently have-been held up in my forward arrangements by the uncertainty of >my dates in Wellington." /'Many managers believe it to be advisable to open a New Zealand tour in Wellington,' continued Mr. Monk, "as it pves the show a genera! advertisement tor the wholo of tho Dominion, but unless more equitable arrangements are made tho lettings ave not likely to bo so numerous as in the past. How can anv manager decido to open in Wellington during holiday time,' no matter how far ahead lie thinks, if ho has to tender a fortnight prior to the date? The tender system may be all very well for. local showmen, who are acquainted with the city s peculiar methods, but I think reasonable citizens will consider that it is somewhat of a 'facer' to tho stranger who comes along to book under conditions' that obtain all the world over—first come, first served. Would it not be better to have a fixed tariff rate for holidays and open the plan for the. succeeding twelve months tlirco or six months ahead? I would urge the City Council to consider my suggestion of a fixed holiday tariff. I was not a tenderer for the big 'hall.: My remarks are merely directed against the system.