Floating Cabaret.

Hokitika Guardian, 7 February 1923, Page 4

Floating Cabaret.

SYDNEY'S IXXOY ATIDN. SYDNEY. .lan 19. I!c ceiitl.v a visitor to Sydney from abroad, declarin'; that Sydney was

‘•ja 7.7. mad," sni'l Lhat lie would not. lie Mirjiri'od to see the people jazzing it! ‘tlit* streets. This has still to come, l)Ul Sydney is to go one better. The people will be literally jazzing on the ■ water. The lorry steamer Biloela. that was used 1.0 carry workmen to and from I 'tlie naval dockyard at Cockatoo Island 'has been purchased by a syndicate, which is lilting it out as a cabaret. One of the syndicate spent a number of years in America, where lie was connected will the management of floating cabarets on the Mississippi. on the Hudson and on the Great Lakes. 'I he liiloela will be rechristoned the Ronian.ee. and it is estimated that there will lie room for about one hundred and fifty couples on the dancing floor, ’while the lower deck will he fitted out with small tallies, at which light meals trill lie served from a completely-equip-ped steam-heated galley. A modern soda fountain is to lie installed on the upper deck and an orchestra will provide the music, while popular artists will add to the entertainment. ; Though the vessel was built according to the strict naval specifications, its new controllers are spending several hundreds of pounds in making alterations so that it will conform with the latest requirements ol the Navigation Act.

Apart from the novelty of the scheme the business deal has aroused great interest here. Offers of £GOOO and £150!) which were made fur the vessel are said to have been turned flown. She was sold for £3...>i ; 0. Oio Prime Ylinister’s Department, through which the sale has been negotiated, remains silent. The vessel can caxij twelve hundred passengers, and is certainly worth more than the £3500 for which she has been .sold. It is stilted that to build a similar vessel to-day would cost between eigh ami ten thousand pounds.