Lancaster Standard and County Advertiser. — 1905-04-07 (Lancaster, Lancashire, England)

THII ATHENAUM. 'The Greed of I, Cold" is the somewhat striking title of a drama which is being ?resealed at the • Athemeum this week. Mr. T. Morton Powell's company are engaged in :ts production, and they make the must of a thrilling, us well as ii novel sttry. As the title I . suggests, the striving after riches is the seed 11 from which most of the events in the drama spring. Harry Hood, a rogue, is the and, incidentally, is the nephew of a very wealthy lady. A strange thing is that he has succeeded ill inducing a lady to =try him who is as virtuous us he as wicked. Subsequently his villainy is discovered, and his aunt gives him money to go away and leave Ms wife and little ie,n iu peace and seclusion. News a I,lw death comes to hand, and some time later his widow married again. Hood is mit dead, however, and he reappears, murdem his aunt, steals away his child, and I then makes a claim to his aunt's fortune. I Meanwhile his bodher-in-law, a dumb man who had seen the murder committed, is arrested cn suspicion that it was he who was responsible for the deed, and there is a dramatic scene in court when he attempts to prove by signs and gesturcs how the murder was actually committed and that he is innocent. There is the usual happy denouement, the mystery is solved, virtue triumphs, and villainy meets with its due is ward. The pece is admirably presented, and is splendidly staged. The sensational scene in the first act, where a team engine with all the necessary accessories is shown in actual motion, is one to be remembered, whilst the police court scene towards the close of the I play is one of the 'meet we have ever seen staged. On the whole the "Greed of Gold" is a drama of much merit, and it is regrettable that the houses have been small. The , company is an excellent rile, and the principals one and all display a great amount I of ability, Mr. Carthage Coldclaugh as the I villain. and Mr. H. Fox, the dumb man, being deserving of special mention.  so every year. Taking a reasonable view-of 'hingts all round the firm were well satisfied with the year's work and gratefully acknowledged the ungrudging efforts put forth by their staff, which they tried to show their appreciation of from time to time. After a!luding to the ever-increasing burden of expenses such as taxation, etc., the report proceeded to deal with the :nereases and doceases, of the various departments and shops, . the managers responsible for the former being l greeted with rounds of applause. Turning to 'the year in front of them, he said lie thought they might look to better times in store, for with so much public co-irk in view, due largely to such princely generosity as Lord Ashton's, the spending power of the public and especially of the wage-earning section, would be ! largely inereacasl. The time had now arrived when another of his brothel, was to be taken into partnership, and it had been thought wise at this stage of the firm's history to change its title, which would shortly be " 1). Smiths, Limited." This was purely • a fnmily matter, with the same partners at the lure.l, the same policy both towards them-elves and the nubile they had tried to serve during the lost 47 years would be continued, I and the firm knew how well they could rely on tlie!r efforts to maintain the reputation it had held for so long.—Mr. T. D. Smith, in his remarks addressed principally to the younger members of the staff, said he thought they could look with pardonable pride n the fact that although hundreds of samples of the goods they sold had been taken by the authorities for analysis, and their scales, etc., frequently inspected, they could look back on an absolutely clean record, and he considered the change •indicated would tend only to consolidate the firm and increase its efficiency in serving the public.—A vote of thanks to the firm, and of congratulation to the new partner, proposed by Mr. Robinson, and seconded by Mr. Jeatkinson, was ably replied to by Mr. C. H. Smith. The remainder of the evening was enjoyably spent with games, songs, recitations, etc.  MR.