... LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. THE TOURING QUESTION. SIR,--Killing the goose which lays tha golden egg has always beon an enterprise in which mankind has shown remarkable ingenuity. When one looks round at the vast amalgamations of theatres, run by syndicates of business men, one cannot but be forcibly reminded of the truth of tlys assertion. From what other causes have these amalgamations sprung ...

... SIR,--Your laudable efforts to form a Touring Managers' Association will, I hope, be crowned with success, a, though I write in no spirit of antagonism to resident managers of theatres, from whom, as a whole, I meet with fair and in many instances generous treatment, yet there aro many theatres which are carried on in a manner which only requires a few words from your powerful and ...

... SIR,--The proposed scheme for the above at the Lyceum on Friday last, for which you have agitated so long in your columns, ought to meet with the support of every member of the profession who has not only the welfare of the stage at heart as a profession, but who at the same time recognises that, the stage is about to be put on such a basis that it will be lifted permanently on to a level ...

... THE PLAY QUESTION. SIR,--I am extremely glad to see that your Correspondent L. has been brave enough again to broach the idea in your columns of a Society of Dramatic Authors. I am firmly convinced that the only way of raising the dramatic supply out of its present indescribable state of chaos is by the organised co-operation of the playwrights, but, strange to pay, the chief diffloultv ...

... SCENIC ARTIST TROUBLES. SIR,--In your issue of last week, under the heading of Working Staff Notes, a paragraph appears from a stage carpenter on tour, who credits his manager, in response to a refusal to accept a reduction of salary on account of bad business, with saying that in addition to the carpenter's legitimate calling, he could get a man who was a good scenic artist, and would ...

... THE STAGE AND THE WAR. Sin, Will you spare me space in your valuable columns to protest against a habit that is becoming a greater terror to play goers than Now we shan't be long, or What ho, she bumps. Having last week a vacation, I took the opportunity of visiting as many as possible of the theatres in and around London. The plays were good, the aciing of a high order, but why, oh, why, ...

... . Sib, I should esteem it a great favour if you could find room for tnis in your valuable columns, for it points out the necessity for managers to remove the names of artists from their bills and programmes when thoy have left the company. I left my post as stage-manager with Mr. H. S. Dacro's Sorrows of Satan company a year last August, but I see that my name is still on his Dills one whioh I ...

... . We have received the following communications on the subject of tho Dramatic and Musical Sick Fund, and its Benevolent Branch:-- To the Editor of The Stage. Sir, With reference to your paragraph in last iwue re the Benevolent Branch of the Dramatic and Musical Sick Fund, will you allow me to state that I have this day re signed from the committee, aa I was not aware that the expenditure and ...

... To the Editor of THE STAGE. Sm, Although not mentioned in your last edition of Thb Staob, I lost everything belonging to my False Lights tour in tho above fire. I had stored all my Btuff there till I started, this year, my third tour. I am now busy on new models for a fresh supply of Kino Vu.it hfhl]v von I'M FRED SINCLAIR Lyric Opera House, Hammersmith. ...

... Sir, AN e sometimes hear lamentations about the dearth of libretti and, us a con sequence, implied sympathy for com posers; but I venture 10 put tho case before you from a librettist's point of view. For ten years I have been offering the libretto of a comic opera, and you will see from the uocomnanying list of names (which 1 enclose lor your private perusal) that it has been taken up by ...

... Sir. I quite agree that the letter of Mr. G. Collier calls for the consideration of all sconic artists who take the interest of their profession to heart. It is quite time some thing was done to protect us from the abuses and wrongs we have only too patiently endured, and I think that the establishment of a Scenic Artists' Society, for the mutual improvement and advancement of its mem bers in ...

... . Sin, I notice in your last week's edition of Thr Stage you have a short paragraph re my bankruptcy, in which you state that I lost £120 over the tour of Odd Man Out. This is not correct, as that piece was toured by my brother, Mr. A. G. Spry, who is at present going t hrough the Bankruptcy Court over that piece. My statement of affairs showed a loss of £450 16s. 9d. over Man* 9 Ambition tour ...