PICTURE THEATRES

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 164, 5 April 1919, Page 8

PICTURE THEATRES

HOURS OF OPENING

1 PUBLIC HEALTH ACT ENFORCED

j COURT IMPOSES FINES

'■.'. Several cases of importance to picturo i theatre proprietors wero heard .at the ; Magistrate's Court yesterday, when action ' was taken by tho police to enforce tho I provisions of the Public Health Act ': Amendment' Act, 1018, relating to the : opening of picture theatres. The defendi ants for whom Mr. M. Myers appeared, . were: W. Jagger (Empress Theatre), W. : B. Johns (Paramount), F. B. Mason \ (King's), C. Melvin" (Everybody s) \\.i----1 Monk (P.P.P.), W. A. Shortt (Shortts), ; and--S: Pratt (New), and the informai tions against them were that they hint I opened their theatres at an earlier hour I than was allowed by the statute. Mr. i F. V. Frazer, S.M., was. on the Beii.'h, ! nnd the prosecution was cunducted by I Sub-Inspector Emerson. , , . , i A" plea" of guilty was entered m each i instance, with the exception of two '.ases I relating to the King's Theatre and the j Paramount Theatre. There were two mI formations against tho management o. t the Pnramount Theatre, and one was adI mitted. it being acknowledged that the [: piece had .been opened beforo 7 o olocc i. oh one occasion. ! The informations were laid under seci: tion 23 of the Act, which reads as fol['■"■]o\vYi: "No picture theatre shall bo_ openI- ed beforo the hour of 2 o'clock in the ! afternoon, or between the hours of a ami I 7 in the evening of any day." '- Mr. Myers said the. question His ivor- [ ship had to decide was the meaning of ! the word "open." The section did r.ot I mean that a theatre should be merely ; open-it meant, course' ' open . tor I some purpose." The-Court had to decide !' what that purpose was. A theatre fcnt. - to be open if only for the purpose of. • ventilation/- and for the purpose of dean; i in" the interior, so the word "opened i in the Act hud some additional meaning. j For the purposes of argument the nc- : femlants were content to adopt the :■ meaning that had been placed upon tho ;' word by the prosecution-that each of : thehi opened a picture -theatre for the : purpose of screening a picture between 1 the hours, or before the time meiitioneu i -in the section. The King's Theatre had '■ not screened nnv pictures before 7 p.m., ■ and as a matter of fact the screenr.ig : did not'take place before 7.1 a. It. nap- : pened that March 22, the day on which ! ' tho alleged offences were committed at ■ 'the Kind's Theatre and the • Paramount 'Theatre, was extremely boisterous. A • great number of people were awaiting [ entry to the theatres, so the managers 1: permitted them to enter and sit down '- in order that they might avoid j ing in the rain. Whatever might be meant'bv the provisions of tho section, I there would be no doubt that the words F "pieture-theatre" applied only to. tho 1 auditorium, so in any case tho management would be entitled to a low tho r public, into the vestibule before .1 • o'clock. To prevent, that would ho worse I.'than absurd. "Unless that is dono the \ people who want to go to a theatre must ! remain outside in ■ a queue no matter i what the weather may be/, added J . ' Mvers. "If that is tho idea of this I section, then all I can suggest to Your ' Worship is that leaving people in -tne ! street in that way in boisterous weather ? is not verv. conducive to the interests : of public health." It «s submitted , that the section merely meant that the ! theatres should not be opened for he ; purpose of screening pictures before tne ': times mentioned. Counsel would like to : point out-though the question did not • arisa in the ease-that there was no- ; thing on earth to prevent the proprietors !' from opening their, theatres in the

i morning. , , ~, :. Mr. Trailer:' You have to look at tho '■ -tvords in the section. It says that they ! shall not open before 2 o clock in tne ■ afternoon. ~ „., „ ~ Mr .Myers: Yes, the "afternoon ; it ; saw nothing about tho morning. ; Mr. Timor: I would not like to lake : the risk. . , . . ! •■ Passed, in a Hurried Session.

'■. Mr Myers said the defendants uisi puted the contention that they were i:ot • permitted to open their theatres, beforo : : 7 p.m. Tho Act was passed during the ; course of a hurried session, when most ! important legislation vitally aftecting oit- ; ferent sections of tho public was rusnet : through without tho persons concerns* ;; having any opportunity of being heard i or of representing their position to Jar-

'' Can you put that beforo i the Court, Mr. Myers?. i Mr. Myers: It is tho only opportunity \ ono has of explaining the position ''■'. His -Worship replied that ho did not i think tho political aspect of the matter i should bo introduced. It was beyond the. '' provinco of tho Court to allow Court I 'proceedings to bo used for the, purpose I of "iving public expression to grievances. - Mr. Myers then went on to refer to the I. effect of the legislation. If tho Bcctioii. i was enforced the result would' be that :• 150 to 200 persons in tho four centre* ; of tho Dominion would be thrown out I of employment. At a time when soldiers ! were returning in their tens of thou- ; sands, and when in the interests of tho >■'■ countrv it was desirable that unomploy- ' went should bo prevented, tins would bo .""a most unfortunate thing. "Where theso i -people are to obtain employment it they : are thrown out of their employment '■ now'wo arc quite unable to offer any ! Mr. Myers. Those lot) : to 200 persons wero earning from £3 to > £i 10s. nor wecH. , ! Mr Prazer: I think wo ai'e wandering off the track again, I don't think you ; can go into the economic side or the i matter. . ~ . , , ! Mr Myers: Your Worship is bound ! to'enforce the law, however obnoxious to public opinion tho law may be. ■ Mr. Prazer: Public opinion must no brought to bear in some other "way than'; through tho Court. / Mr. Myers said the statute was passed to do away with'a class of theatre that Teally did not exist. The object was to prevent continuous entertainments at places like Rotonni and Wairoa, where -. Natives attended the theatres. As. a ' matter of fact there were no continuous I theatres in those places, and there was, ; none outside the four centres. In tho | ca-je in which, the management-of tho I Paramount Theatre was charged vith ! opening before 2 o'clock, namely, at 1.« i p'ni., the entertainment did not coin- ! menee until 2.15. }■ Meaning of the Word "Open," ! ; '' Hir Worship said that under the i Shops and Offices Act a shop was deeniI ed to bo open unless it'was effectively ! closed against the ingress of the public. 1 He wonld think that a picture theatre I was open for the purpose of screening i pictures when the public were admitted ! in anticipation of a performance which I was to commence in a quarter or Halt : an hour's time. Tho object of the Act i was the conservation of the public f health. The reason for closing theatres 1 duwnf certain hours was to allow ample '- tinwfor tho-vitiated air to. bo drawn I out He. thought the intention of the ! 4ct was that picture theatres should not i he open to the public between the hours ! of 5 and 7 in the evening or beforo 2 1 pin in the daytime. Tho. question or I nastv legislation and the economic ofteots ■' of tiie Act were beyond the power of the ' Court to go i"to. The Court's duty was ; . to take the Act ns.it stood. If there i was any dissatisfaction on the port, ol ' the public or on the part of tho picture ! theatre proprietors and their employ*,, ,' then t 1 '"" n'-oper remedies must bo i.i Ken ' -when Parliament met. He had to find ' -tbit the word "open" meant open to i the p.iblfc." and that a theatre was open : to to public unless it was, to use the i words of the Shops and Offices Act, "ef?p velv closed iwainst the >Wr™ ('J +I,» niblic" Ifn had some ■ doubt : ethe the public could be admitted ; no he vestibule between the hours or : ' , ,ml 7. He should imagine Hint the ! torn "theatre" would include, no ,nly ! thVaurfitarinm. but the vcsiibule. Ordni; ! ly the King's Theatre, opened at , : o'coth. nnd liietun* were screened later J 1 On-the ocnuioi! in Question -he day i SiV wet and llm. people were let into i the nmlitoi-iuiii prior to. tlio opemns : l „. \s Mint was an isolated occuri Se nV t ™, not suggested. that ' ! :,v< anv intention of commitling ! of the Act, he thought he; ,ould j Si „'s the information as trivia.. He ! .11 .wlnnt the same course in the i-rst 1 rnfoliS ■ ujniwt the Paramount i STin respect to the other pro-

seditions, he took it that they were brought moro to vindicate the Act than to enforce penalties; He knew that ihere had been a considerable amount of dissatisfaction with tho Act, but it might be that the parties had desired to nave tho matter tested in Court. He did not think it necessary to impose a fino ot £a, which the Public Health Act allowed. "It is just as well that one should point out to the proprietors," Mr. Frazor went on, "that under tho Act tho .continuing of an offence can be penalised at tj lß rate of £u for every day on which the offence continues, or, alternatively, each dav can bo treated as a separate oftenco and can bo prosecuted for separately. Mr. Myers: They don't propose- to do that. As soon us they saw that the authorities intended to enforce this section they ceased committing any breach of tho Act. They havo to take the other course of dismissing employees-it cannot

be helped. \ ,*,. On the other informations each ot tne defendants was fined £i, with 7s. costs.

CIIRISTCHUJICiI CASES,

By Tcleeranh—Press Association. Christchurch, April i. In the Magistrate's Court Alfred Rowlev and Edwin ,T. Pegs, managers of the Strand and Grand picture theatres respectively, were charged with keeping tho theatres open during the- hours prohibited bv the Public Health Amenaiiig Act, 1918. Defendants pleaded guilty. Counsel drow attention to the fact that tho Auckland theatres had been open continuouslv since December, and the Wellington theatres since the beginning of the year, while the defendants had only started in' March to show continueously. Both were convicted And discharged.