HELP FOR THE BELGIANS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2405, 10 March 1915, Page 6

HELP FOR THE BELGIANS

NOVEL THEATRICAL TOUR

NO PROFITS FOR THE MANAGEMENT

, Jf concentrated enthusiasm and care-fully-planned effort bo essential factors of success, then the tour of the Plim-mer-Hall Dramatic Company should bo a notable achievement in the annals of the stage in this country. Messrs. and Hall, with the members of their company, arrived from Sydney by the Ulunaroa yesterday, and are to plunge info active rehearsal this morning in view 0 f the tour, which they hope will help to afford at least a modi°™or re'lef to the smitten Belgians. ~, " e had been reading in the Eng'lSP Pyiers of what Sir Herbert .Beevbohm- Tree, Miss Clara Butt, and others were at Home to help tho. great ® aus ®> Ba .'d Mr. Plimmer yesterday, and all of a 6udden it occurred to me that something could be done in a fairly ~'S n 'ay out here. Here was this brave little nation shattered and torn to bits lor what? Just to preserve her honour among the nations. In Belgium's case there was probably not a scrap of paper binding her to \ fight, and she could have saved every life within the vi' ever y historio building, millions or treasure, by merely allowing the German a clear track into France. °n other hand, there was • her pledged neutrality and her independence as a nation to preserve and defend before all the world. She never hesitated for an hour. Germany's hordes ■were over the border advancing like a solid wall, before she could gird up her loins. But gird them she did, and when she stung. she stung badly, and her action has unquestionably saved England and France from being in a much worse plight than they ars today.

"We did intend originally to tour for the war fund, but the heart-breaking appeal for help that reached us in Melbourne a few weeks ago at once diverted our intention, and after consulting Mr. Massey we decided on giving all profits to the fund that is being raised in New Zealand to ,sucour Belgium's starving millions. "I would like to say," continued Mr. P.limmer ; "that the effort we are about to make is an earnest attempt to do. our utmost during the next two months to raise money for the fund, and I am insisting from the outset, and right through, that our receipts and expenses shall be checked by a responsible officer of some kind—either a Government official or an officer appointed for the purpose, by tho Mayor of the town we happen to be playing in. The artists we nave engaged have met Mr. Hall and myself in a, most generous spirit, and all are as, keen to ao all they can for the cause as we are. Before leaving Sydney we submitted our expense sheet to Mr. Hugh J. Ward, of the Williamson management, and he then stated that he would write to his New Zealand friends assuring them that the tour had been arranged on tho most economical basis.".

"We have got together a highly capable company, and are' to present two capital plays in Oscar Wilde's comedy, Lady Windermere's Fan" and "Tho Mummy and tho Humming Bird," so that we are not asking for somotbirig for Those ' people who are going to witness our performances throughout New_ Zealand will have the double satisfaction of knowing that whilst they aro getting full value for their money , they are at the same time helping those bereft people who have been reduced to such frightful extremes in holding' back this Molooh among the nations. - "It is gratifying to me to find how willing everyone is to assist us', The Government is helping in several ways, and'those people who can be'of service to us in making the tour a success, are rising to the occasion in splendid style. It now only remains for the publio lo do its part, and that I am convinced they will do in the spirit which has already made New Zealand and its people remarkable since tho outbreak of the war. There is possibly no part of the Empire so little affected by tho war as the Dominion, no country that is so happily situated' in respect to natural resources' and individual wellbeing, and as a nfltive_of the country, I' know that our appeal will not'be a v ( ain one." • .