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Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 829, 10 December 1878, Page 2

The want of a properly appointed theatre, or at any rate a decent public hall m which entertainments may be given, was never made more apparent than it was last evening, when Messrs. Baker and Farron, with their company, were forced to struggle through a piece—wo will not call it a drama demanding an extensive amount of scenery and stage accessories of no moan order to make Its performance successful, with nothing but the wretchedly papered walls of the Volunteer Hall and , their own talents to render the entertainment even moderately satisfactory to thenpatrons. That they undertook to give a performance in the Volunteer gall entitles Messrs. Baker and Farron to bg considered exceedingly courageous men. A, more miserable, dismal, ill-appointed, and totally unsuitable place in which to give a dramatic or any other performance than the Volunteer Hall it wfts never our lot to look upon. It may be well sui.te.d. for the purposes of a drill shed, and might, with the aid of some amount of decorations and adornments, be a passable hall for dancing in ; but as a public hall in which to give entertainments it is a wretched abortion. To admit that Oamaru is unable to sup* port a more suitable building, with the necessary accessories, is to bespeak for the town and its residents a character for meanness that they are not really entitle 4 to. That there is not hero a respectable public hall is a standing disgrace to the town ; and we shall not bo surprised if, for the future, professional companies give Oamaru a wide berth in travelling through the country. Talented artistes will not risk the loss of their reput.at/ona by being forced, in order to visit Oamaru, to appear in a miserable barn, without one redeem.ing feature, save perhaps that it is cheap., but even then its cheapness is more than counterbalanced by its excessive nastiiietis. The public too will not be lured into patronising ©von first-class entertainments if there is no other place in which to give them, for no matter how goo 4 an entertainment may bo one cannot thoroughly appreciate ft if the surroundings are not of a pleasant and agreeable nature. We are fully convinced' that w&hin a very short time, unless something is done to provide a suitable kail, no respectable .company will appear in Oamaru, and that, however much the majority of the public may enjoy rational amusement, ithey will have to pursue the dull monotonous routine of overy-day life without that relaxation and i enjoyment which is afforded by the pcr- ! formances of dramatic .and other companies, unless indeed they are willing to put up with the efforts of strolling mountebanks of a not very desirable class. We

repeat again that the fact of there being no more suitable public hall than the drill shed in Oamaru, the second town inOtago and the fifthinimportanceintheColony,isa lasting disgrace to those who permit such a state of things to exist. If it is undesirable that anything in the shape of a public entertainment should be given here, let us at once say so, and set our faces strongly against any kind of amusement; but if it is agreed that man requires rational and harmless amusement, for goodness sake let us do things decently, and not rest contented with a hall that is too good for a pig-sty, but not good enough for a drinking saloon.