The custodian’s job was demanding, physically and mentally and appears to have taken up all hours of day and night, even though normal hours of work were 40 hours a week. A 1956 job description in Wanganui City Council records notes that preferred custodians had experience in stage work, and switchboard operation, and could maintain both motor and gas generator plants. It was their duty to maintain “all parts of the building, furnishings, scenery and equipment…in a clean and serviceable condition to the satisfaction of the council’s officer appointed to oversee the work”. They also had to clean “the entrance, stairways, offices, auditorium, stage, annex, dressing rooms and all lavatories…after each performance, ensure no hirer damages the theatre or properties”, set up and dismantle scenery and anything else of the council’s needed for any performance, read electricity and gas meters before and after each hiring, be in attendance at all performances, post bills (a separate contract), and be paid 12 pounds a week, a cost of living bonus of 13% (one pound eleven shillings and two pence maximum). The custodian would also be paid an extra one pound ten shillings (1/8 of the weekly income) “as a compensation for additional hours worked”, live rent-free in the flat - “suitable only for a married couple without children” - and also be granted “an extra week’s annual leave, making three weeks in all, on full wages after each completed year of service”. He had to join the appropriate union, was allowed to join the council’s superannuation scheme, and could be employed by the council  on ‘other duties when the theatre is not engaged’. From the Council’s Conditions of Employment - 1956

Opera House Custodians

In its one hundred years, the Opera House has probably had eight, possibly nine, manager/custodians, an average of one every 12 years, all of them men. Their wives, and sometimes their children, have been highly involved, assisting with front of house, ushering, cleaning and organising staff rosters. Some custodian/managers spent only 18 months to two years in the job, others served over 20 years. In the early years of the century available information is unclear as to the exact nature of the position, whether a custodian and a manager worked together to run the Opera House, or whether today’s managerial role was, in those days, mostly custodial. It appears likely though, that the manager was not only involved in cleaning the building, but in front of house, back stage and lighting activities. When the Opera House was revamped to function also as a movie theatre, the manager/custodian sometimes took on the role of projectionist. All appear to have had a background or interest in theatre, some as actors, others as talented stage set painters and designers. When the Opera House was developed as a picture theatre, Lacey Smith was appointed to manage the picture theatre while Arthur Gaskin continued as Opera House custodian and managed any live performances. As closely as can be determined the custodian/managers were: 

The Opera House Flat

Located on the fly floor at the rear of the theatre, the flat contained two bedrooms, a living room, and a scullery. Cold and rather dark, it opened onto the sandhill behind, was reached internally only by a narrow flight of stairs, or outside from a landing at the back.

In 1917 the council decided it was time to put a bath in the caretaker’s quarters, and sought a quote for that and “for putting the sanitary arrangements in order.” Who knows, until then they may have had to use a tin bath for bathing, and a long drop out the back may have been the lavatory. Unlikely, though as other lavatory pans and cisterns have been in place a long time.

In 1943 the council’s chief sanitary inspector reported that “…these quarters are situated on the top portion of the building at the back …Under these circumstances the place is not suitable as a residence for the present caretaker as there are six children and two adults, the youngest child, a baby two years old and the oldest a girl 17 years of age. The family consists of mother and father, three girls and three boys, the oldest boy being 15 years of age. The sanitary conveniences consist of a w.c., sink and a very unsatisfactory bathroom at the end of a passage way. The place could be made convenient for a married couple only. There is also the question of space and suitability for children.” So the custodian lived elsewhere and was, possibly, paid a house allowance.