The Sunday Cinema The proposal to permit the opening of
cinemas at 3.30 on Sunday .afternoons instead of at 6 o'clock on Sunday evenings only concerns London at the moment, but what London does any other arcs can do if it chooses. The question therefore, with all the large considerations it opens up, is of general rather than local interest. No principle is involved. If the opening of cinemas in the evening, to the probable detriment of church services, is permitted, there is no very fundamental reason for object- ing to their _opening in the afternoon, to the probable detriment of Sunday Schools. Nor is the argument that a considerable sum of money (part of the profits) will be made available for charity at all relevant. There is no more logical ground for requiring contributions to charity from a cinema that opens on Sunday than from a restaur- ant that opens on Sunday. It is therefore simply a question of degree. The existing arrangement whereby opening from 6 p.m. is allowed in many areas is a good compromise between opposing views, and the L.C.C. will make a serious mistake if it departs from that, in response not to any popular demand but to the desire of the cinema industry to increase its profits.
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