WAR MEMORIAL

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 45, 4 November 1946, Page 5

WAR MEMORIAL

; SPORTS GROUND PROPOSAL

FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS

With the object of further •clarifying the idea of a Memorial Sports Ground, catering to all types of sport in the town and district, as a War Memorial, and also to outline more details of the proposal, a meeting of .representatives of sports bodies was held in the Borough Council Chambers last Thursday evening. There was not a large attendance, although there was fair representation of the various bodies. Mr. J. W. Wilson was in the chair.

Opening the meeting, the Chairman stated that the main object was to obtain more details of the sports ground proposal, in order to have something more tangible to submit to: the next War Memorial meeting. It would also be advisable to explore the possibilities of a .scheme whereby a sports ground and a community centre could be combined. Whilst the Hon. W. E. Parry .had been in Whakatane, His Worship the Mayor, Mr. B. S. Barry had interviewed him on the question of whether he would favour such a •scheme and although no definite answer had been given, the Minister had indicated that he would give it .serious consideration.

Question of Subsidy

Mr. K. Francis intimated that he had heard that the Prime Minister was not willing to grant subsidies to sports grounds as War Memorials,, as* these were already subsidised under another scheme.

Mr. P. Bryers was of the opinion that the townspeople would not consider the proposal if there were no subsidy attached to it.

Mr. W. S. Henderson (Rugby Football) added that the country people would all be behind their own Memorials, and even if the town ;sports bodies organised say a queen carnival, he felt certain that country clubs would not nominate queens.

The Chairman further outlined the position when he stated that the .sports ground proposal was considerably weakened if no grant were iforthcoming, and that apparently the only way to secure a subsidy was to incorporate a community centre, and combine the two under the one heading. He suggested forwarding a letter and blueprint showing the prospective location of the various sports areas to the Minister. In any case, the matter would take time to settle.

Preparation of Areas.

Mr. Henderson added that he did ;not see how any proposal could be formulated in detail at this .stage. There would be no use having the sports ground scheme accepted if it were to be later found that no subsidy was attached. He suggested that rather than wait for an indefinite period, the various clubs proceed with work and improvements on their own allotments. In the meantime a letter could be forwarded to the Minister indicating that an area had been set aside for a community building and requesting that the Department draw up a suitable plan.

Mr. Bryers added that with reports which had been circulated indicating that subsidies would be allowed on community centres only, the one thing to do was to obtain a ruling, and trust that it would be favourable.

Delegates then inspected a blueprint of the proposed sports ground and the various areas set aside were discussed.

The meeting closed after the formation of a sub-committee consisting of one delegate from each body to go further into the question of respective sports areas, and the possibility of a subsidy by including a community centre.

The committee elected was as follows:

Mr. W. S. Henderson (Rugby football), Mr. J. D. Rivett (cricket), Mr. B. Henderson (hockey), Mrs. M. Rowson (basketball), Mr. P. Bryers W. Wilson (School interests), Mr. A. Fisher (indoor basketball), Mr. A. Morpeth (athletics) and Mr. D. Morpeth (swimming).