Licensing System Upholds Monopoly

The most important effect of the licensing system has been to strengthen the two chains by stifling opposition. To open a 35 mm movie theatre you must be licensed by the Cinematograph Films Licensing Authority, a body that 'operates in considerable secrecy' according to Thursday's film critic, John Westbrooke (October 17 1964). The Authority appears reluctant to grant new licences, and its repressive influence is shown by the following examples:

- Jan Grefstad, the owner of the Hollywood at Avondale (the most lively independent theatre in Auckland) rented a warehouse in Queen Street with the intention of converting part of it into a theatre to be called the Classic. Both Kerridge-Odeon and Amalgamated opposed his application and the Authority turned him down. Its reasons? It wasn't allowed to authorise the showing of one type of film only (Grefstad wanted to specialise in old films). And it thought that Auckland already had enough theatres - which was a particularly stupid thing to think. The long runs of the films shown on Queen Street has resulted in newer films piling up on distributors' shelves. There is in fact an urgent need for more city theatres. Grefstad is appealing this decision in the Supreme Court - by the time this is printed the result should be known (we wouldn't actually give much for his chances; the Authority's powers are pretty arbitrary). In the meantime he is trying to run his theatre as a private club, which commercially speaking must be next to impossible. Grefstad would need an unusual amount of support from his patrons for his private club to work.

- Another man to feel the hard hand of officialdom is Barrie Everard of Auckland Amusements. He wants to set up drive-in movies in Auckland. However, before he can even apply for a licence he has to get the permission of the Minister of Internal Affairs (the Cinematograph Films Act harbours a Victorian prejudice against drive-in movies). The 8 O'clock reported (12 October 1974) that the cinema chains had lobbied the Department of Internal Affairs about the matter, as they felt that drive-ins would be a threat to their business. The Minister is dubious about driveins; according to the Thursday article mentioned earlier, he is worried about the effect on the existing exhibition industry. Perhaps the lobbying paid off?

About ten years ago the commercial interests managed to stop the Auckland Film Society screening 35 mm films on Sunday nights in an independent suburban theatre.

Licensing is a common feature of the commercial world in New Zealand. The powers-that-be have a fetish about [unclear: goverment] controls. The men who sit on the various licensing authorities see their function as preserving the status quo They feel that they would be exceeding their powers if they allowed radical changes to occur in the industries that they control.

Thus, if the cinema chains tried to extend their monopoly too much the [unclear: Autity] would no doubt slap them down. However, the present situation is that so people are trying to erode this monopoly - and the Authority is slapping them [unclear: dov]

In other words the Licensing [unclear: Authori] is protecting vested interests. No [unclear: wonde] Kerridge-Odeon and Amalgamated [unclear: oppo] the occasional suggestion that licensing [unclear: t] scrubbed.