LOCAL ENTERPRISE

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 277, 18 July 1932, Page 2

LOCAL ENTERPRISE

It is an old aciage 'that nothing succeeds like success but the achievement of success brings in its train the inevitable critics Who, incapable of effort and barren of imagination themselves, are only too anxious to deny virtue and decry attainment in.. others. Rotorua, in this respe.ct, is no different from any other community, and, while the town has still a long way to go on the journey to greatness , there are institutions, and associations in it which will equal or outstrip similar institutions in towns many times larger. A case in point is the Majestic pieture theatre. Built purely as the result of local enterprise it has been favourably commented upon for its comfort and up-to-dateness by hundreds of tourists. It Is true that the management has not been able to vie with the theatres of the big combines of the cities in pr.esenting star films right off the boat, but it is equally true that Rotorua gets star films just as soon as the* competitive hidding power of the town, as reflected in its theatre unaided by associated film combines, will permit. In other words, we get just what we are able to pay for. If we want greater luxuries, then we must be prepared to face increased charges. With pictures, however, just as with other public utilities, those who clamour loudest for greater facilities are usually the most reluctant to provide the wherewithal to pay for them. These remarks are prompted by a r.eport which appears in another column of today's issue. This report conyeys the information that a proposed rival pieture theatre in Rotorua has been vetoed by the Minister of Industries and Commerce. It is not our intention to traverse here the propriety or otherwise of the powers with which the Minister is invested, which is another subject entirely, but to men tion one relevant factor which should be appreciated by the public of Rotorua." This is, that coincident with the news of the abandonment of the new theatre, the management of the existing ones announce a policy of reduced charges and improved features. Tliis shows that, contrary to a widely field opinion locally, Rotorua enterprise does not always need the spur of threatened competition to impel progressive measures, but, as in this instance, is ready to make an advance as soon as circumstances permit. ...