PATEA COUNTY MAIL PUBLISHED Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 24, 188. TOWN HALL POLICY.

Patea Mail, 24 December 1880, Page 2

PATEA COUNTY MAIL PUBLISHED Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 24, 188. TOWN HALL POLICY.

At the annual meeting of shareholders in the Patea Town Hall Company, to be held in January, it would be well to consider how far the public requirements of the town can be met by con veiling this big ugly barn into a respectable Town Hall. Does any member of the company know what order of architecture, if any, this building corresponds to ? Does any member take the trouble to inquire as to the object or policy of keeping this public hall in its present hideous condition? Hoes any member know or care what is the object aimed at in accumulating the shares of this public company into a few hands ? Possibly the object may be one of benevolence. Possibly it may be an object with which every public-spirited resident can sympathise. So far as wc understand the case, a grant of land was given to a Town Hall Company, for a public benefit. To appropriate that grant to a private use, by accumulating all the shares within the grip of one or two members of the original company, would be contrary to the spirit and intention which governs all such public grants. The value of the land on which the Town Hall stands is now much greater than the building. To pay the price of the building as a means of getting the land for nothing is not a scheme to be approved in the public interest, and it is only the public aspect of the case that wc care about. So long as the company remains a public company, and so long as the hall is managed for the joint benefit of the shareholders and the public, the conditions of the original grant, expressed or implied, will be fairly fulfilled. It would bo a pleasure to see a proper disposition exhibited in this direction by the few remaining shareholders. Is there any proper reason why it should bo otherwise ? The fewer the shareholders, the more need is there for a proper public spirit to be made apparent at the annual meetings, when directors have to be appointed, when past management has to be reviewed, and when future policy has to be shaped.

To enhance the value anti usefulness of the property, we have a suggestion to offer. Put a new architectural front to the hall. Divide the front into two good shops or offices, with a central passage to the hall; and then, to gain

equivalent length for the Iron lag'■ taken oft', let the stage space he included within the Hall, and a fresh larger stage he hnilt at the back as a lean-to. It is a waste of money to take up valuable frontage for a hall which is used only occasionally. 3t is the usual plan in largo towns to place a public hall behind a good shopping frontage, with access through a broad passage. The rental for two shop frontages in so good a position would be a material increase to the present income. It is also indispensable to provide better accommodation behind the scenes. Performers on the stage require dressing-rooms, however small : and for ladies there ought to be rooms provided at any hall which is under civilised management. There are two a room thrown away at present, near the entrance. One would suffice for ticket taking, and it might he half the size. The company would be conferring a benefit on Patea by making this hall more presentable, and more convenient for nso. They would he benefiting themselves by utilising the valuable frontage which is now practically wasted.