THE STAGE AND “WHITE SLAVES”

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 342, 1 May 1928, Page 8

THE STAGE AND “WHITE SLAVES ”

The drafting of two Bills by the Australian Actors’ Federation for submission to Parliament brings to mind that in earlier days there was something approaching “White Slavery” in the theatrical underworld. “Stagestruck” girls rushed into engagements with mushroom companies for tours to the East, and were often left stranded in wicked cities to suffer the worst that could befall them—that worst being connived at by their managers. Those who know present conditions, however, maintain that such things cannot happen to-day. For instance, no passport is granted any Australian girl to go abroad with a theatrical company until the Commonwealth Customs Department is thoroughly assured of the respectability and financial soundness of the company. There is, however, a great deal of imposition practised on girls, in Australia itself, by mushroom theatrical ventures. Companies are engaged at salaries which read well on paper, but which do not exist in reality unless the tour fulfills the blissful anticipations of its get-rich-quick promoters, and girls find themselves stranded hundreds of miles from home. And there is danger to the girl in the fact that very often this kind of theatrical manager is unscrupulously immoral. One of the Bills proposed by the Actors’ Federation is to compel all ..rical employers to be registered and their books to be made available for public inspection. This is commendable, but the “White Slave” Bill will merely chase a myth.

cinders, into the deep shaft above the gates. At present the Public Works Department is more concerned with lowering the level of the lake formed between the powerhouse and the junction of the new and old riverbeds. So much sand has been deposited at the confluence that the area is a picture of desolation. The riverbed for miles below the confluence has been raised, and immediately above it is a sandbank which has dammed the old stream bed. The result is a deep pond, extending over a mile upstream, and hindering the work at the powerhouse site. IMPORTANT MILESTONE Excavation in one section of the site itself has been completed, and concrete is at one place up to the