FINANCE OF A CIRCUS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVII, Issue 4929, 22 January 1926, Page 1

FINANCE OF A CIRCUS.

A CHAT WITH MR. P. WIRTH.

DUNEDIN A POOR SHOW TOWN.

The circus is top big to travel, on account of the charges for trains and (steamers.

Tli'e small towns pay better than the ’larger communities. Dunedin will be cut out of our itinerary in future; it owes us £lO,OOO.

New Zealand audiences, are the most enthusiastic and liberal in our itinerary.

That, in a nutshell, is what Mr Phillip Wirth, circus proprietor, told a “Christchurch Sun’' man.

Dealing with the transport charges, Mr Wirth said that he had just paid out £782 15s 4d for rajlway haulage over the Wejst Coast. The railway charges for the New Zealand tour run into nearly £6OOO, in addition to £6OOO for steamer carriage from Melbourne to Bluff, across Cook Strait, and from Auckland back to Sydney. The salaries and other expenses of the circus run into about £2500 a, week. Each city charges a showman's license of from £2o' to £25, and the Christchurch location costs £6O a week.

In 1880-90, when the circus visited the Dunedin Exhibition, the boat charge wag l £3OO for a full show, including 40 horses and a company of 70. The railage was then 8s a mile ; now it Ist 32s a mile. The admission charges then were 2s 6d, 4s, and 6s in ,the large towns, and 4s, and 6s in smaller towns. Now the prices are 3s, 4s, ss, 6s, and 7s.

Mr Wirth said that Hamilton held the record for five years for the takings at one night performance .with Hastings second, but last year the small town of Ingham, in Queensland, beat the Hamilton figures. There was no doubt about the fact that the small towns paid better than the larger toiwns. The people came from up to 40 mi'ltes around, and gave the show a great welcome. . This led Mr Wirth to speak of Dunedin. “That place owes us 1 £10,000,” he said with a, shrug. “We lost £lBOO this time down there, our biggest loss. Dunedin will be cut out in the future. New Zealand audiences, except Dunedin, are ,the most liberal and enthusiastic.”

Mr Wirth expressed his dis'gust with the reclaimed ground on which the tents Were pitched, and from which they were blown by the wind. Eventually the circus had to go indoors, Dunedin its' in disgrace.