REPORT OF THE DRAMATIC COMMITTEE.

1. In examining the state of the laws affecting the interests and exhibition of the drama, your Committee find that a considerable decline, both in the litera- ture of the stage, and the taste of the public for theatrical performances, is gene- rally conceded. Among the causes of this decline, in addition to those which have been alleged, and which are out of the province of the Legislature to con- trol,—such as the prevailing fashion of late dinner hours, the absence of royal

encouragement, and the supposed indisposition of some religious sects to coun- tenance-theatrical exhibitions,—your Committee are of opinion that the uncer- tain administration of the laws, the slender encouragement afforded to literary talent to devote its labours towards the stage, and the want of a better legal re- gulation as regards the number and distribution of theatres, are mainly to be considered.

2. In respect to the licensing of theatres, your Committee are of opinion that the laws would be rendered more clear and effectual by confining the sole power and authority to license theatres throughout the metropolis (as well as in places of Royal residence) to the Lord Chamberlain ; and that his—the sole—jurisdic- tion should be extended twenty miles round London (that being the point at which Magistrates now have the power of licensing theatres for the legitimate drama). And as the Committee believe that the interests of the drama will be considerably advanced by the natural consequences of a fair competition in its representation, they recommend that the Lord Chamberlain should continue a licence to all the theatres licensed at present, whether by himself or by the Ma- gistrates. Your Committee are also of opinion, partly from the difficulty of defin- ing by clear and legal distinctions " the legitimate drama," and principally from the propriety of giving a full opening as well to the higher as to the more humble orders of dramatic talent, that the proprietors and managers of the said theatres should be allowed to exhibit, at their option, the legitimate drama, and all such plays as have received or shall receive the sanction of the censor. 3. Your Committee believe, that the number of theatres thus licensed (although they might be more conveniently distributed) would suffice for the accommodation of the public, in the present state of feeling towards theatrical

performances, and also for the general advantages of competition ; at the same time, as theatres are intended for the amusement of the public, so your Com-

mittee are of opinion that thepublic should have a voice in the number of thea-

tres to be allowed. And your Committee would, therefore, respectfully submit to the House, that if a requisition, signed by a majority of the resident house-

holders in any large and populous parish or district, be presented to the Cham-

berlain, praying for his licence to a new theatre in the said parish or district, the Chamberlain should I- bound to comply with-the public wish. Your Com-

mittee are of opinion, t' . abuse in the exercise of the licence thus granted would be effectually prevented by leaving to the Chamberlain the power of ap- plving to the Home Department for the summary suppression of any theatre which may notoriously have outraged the conditions of its licence or the rules of public decorum. 4. Your Committee would also recommend, that the Chamberlain should possess the same power for the summary. suppression of any theatre exhibiting

any sort of dramatic representation without the sanction of his licence ; consi- dering, that as the public can procure the licence if it approve the theatre, so any theatre not licensed would probably not be less opposed to the desire of the public than to the provisions of the law.

5. With respect to the licensing of plays, your Committee would advise, in order to give full weight to the responsibility of the situation, that it should be

clearly understood that the office of the censor is held- at the discretion of the

Lord Chamberlain, whose duty it would be to remove him, should there be any just ground for dissatisfaction as to the exercise of his functions. Your Com- mittee would recommend some revision in the present system of fees to the cen- sor, so (for instance) that the licence of a song and the licence of a play may not be indiscriminately subjected to the same charge ; and this revision is yet more desirable, in order to ascertain whether, in consequence of the greater number of plays which, by the alterations proposed by your Committee, would be brought under the control of the censor, some abatement in the fees charged for each might not be reasonably made, without lessening the present income of the licenser.

6. In respect to the exclusive privileges claimed by the two Metropolitan theatres of Drury Lane and Covent Garden, it appears manifest, that such pri- vileges have neither preserved the dignity of the drama, nor, by the present ad. ministration of the laws, been of much advantage to the proprietors of the theatres themselves. And your Committee, while bound to acknowledge that a very large sum has been invested in these theatres, on a belief of the continua-

tion of their legal monopoly of exhibiting the legitimate drama—which suns, but for that belief,-would probably not have beenhazarded—are nevertheless of opi-

nion, that the alterations they propose are not likely to place the proprietors of the said theatres in a Worse pecuniary condition than the condition confused under the existing system.

7. In regard to dramatic literature, it appears manifest, that an author at present is subjected to indefensible hardship and injustice; and the disparity of

protection afforded to the labours of the dramatic writer, when compated even

with that granted to authors in any other branch of letters, seems alone suffi- cient to divert the ambition of eminent and successful writers from that depart-

ment of intellectual exertion. Your Committee, therefore, earnestly recommend that the author of a play should possess the same legal rights and enjoy the same legal protection as the author of any other legal production; and that his per- formance should not be legally exhibited at any theatre, metropolitan or pro- vincial, without his express and formal consent. 8. By the regulations and amendments thus proposed in the existing system, your Committee are of opinion, that the drama will be freed from many present disadvantages, and left to the fair experiment of public support. In regard to actors, it is allowed, even by those performers whose evidence favours the exist- ing monopoly, that the more general exhibition of the regular drama would afford new schools and opportunities for their art. In regard to authors, it is probable that a greater variety of theatres at which to present, or for which to adapt, their plays, and a greater security in the profits derived from their success, will give new encouragement to their ambition, and perhaps (if a play is never acted without producing some emolument to its writer) may direct their attention to the more durable, as being also the most lucrative, classes of dramatic litera- ture; while, as regards the public, equally benefited by these advantages, it is probable that the ordinary consequences of competition, freed from the possi- bility of licentiousness by the confirmed control and authority of the Chamber- lain, will afford convenience in the number and situation of theatres, and cheap and good entertainment in the performances usually exhibited.