"Gate-Crashing"

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 441, 24 August 1928, Page 1

"Gate-Crashing"

War on Uninvited Begun in Auckland ?

“INCIDENT” AT SCOTS HALL

The war against social “gate crashers,’' recently started in London, seems to have established a new front line in Auckland. There was an “incident’ similar to the one which caused a sensation in England at the Scots Hall last evening.

Late in the evening, at the dance arranged by the old girls of a college, to which invitation was essential, the committee discovered that one or two of the dancers were not on the list. One of the committee spoke to a girl on the floor, with the result that, shortly afterwards she left, accompanied by another girl. “Gate-crashing,” a bold, descriptive term, which seems to have had its origin in America, means the entry of uninvited guests to parties, dinners, and dances. In London, Mayfair hostesses have banded themselves together , to obstruct the “crashers,” and a recent sensation was the action taken by one hostess, who asked two women brought by an invited guest to leave. The High Commissioner for Australia, Sir Granville Ryrie, took all sorts of precautions to prevent the crashing at a recent ball at Australia House. One of the offences alleged against the London “crashers” was that they repeatedly went to supper before the invited guests, leaving little of food or drink for the legitimate dancers. Auckland is not without its “crashers,” big weddings—at which [

there is a plenitude of refreshment—having been considered fair game. It is stated that at one large wedding breakfast there were well over 50 celebraters who had no right to be there. Small and private dances, at which strangers would be noticed immediately, are of course not bothered to any extent, and very few of the larger dances are really exclusive, known people being admitted without question. But a stand has been made, and a precedent established, and it will be interesting to see if it is followed by Auckland hostesses.