OPERA HOUSE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 18 August 1943, Page 2

OPERA HOUSE

NO PERMIT FOR PUBLIC USE BOROUGH COUNCIL DEFINES POSITION. COMMERCIAL USE OF BUILDING POSSIBLE. Following on the reading of a letter from the Masterton Trust Lands Trust at last night’s meeting of the Borough Council, the council decided that ’t must be guided by its expert technical advisers (the Borough Engineer and Messrs Burns and Harris, honorary borough surveyors), and that until its requirements were satisfied it couyd not grant a permit for the use of the Opera House as a public building.

The Trust Lands Trust wrote advising that it was unable to undertake earthquake resisting work on the Opera . House to the standard asked for. Thc z letter asked for the council’s ideas regarding the .building before' it was stripped and turned over to cominer- • cial use. The Trust, it was pointed out, spent a large sum on the Opera House after the 1934 earthquake, not for financial gain, but for the provision of a public amenity. The Mayor, Mr T. Jordan, said the council must be guided by the experts. Councillor Grey said the Trust was not asking the council to do anything The Borough Engineer had said there was no structural damage to the Opera House. A little plaster had been shaken off. If there was a bigger shake than the ones experienced it was probable that no building in Masterton would be left standing, let alone the Opera House. If the council would not grant a licence the Opera House would no longer be available as a public' building. Councillor H. E. Gardner said -the council might not be legally responsible in the event of a disastrous earthquake, but it would be morally responsible for allowing the public to go into the building. If a notice were put up r on the building that people entered at their own risk, and there was the slightest tremor, the audience would be thrown into a panic. Councillor W. Kemp said the council had only one sensible thing to do. Councillor Grey said the Trust had lost money on the Opera House ever since it. was. built, and the Trust was not asking the council to do anything it did not wish to do. The matter then lapsed.