NO DIFFERENCE WHICH CANNOT BE SETTLED

Chronicle (Levin), 9 July 1949, Page 4

NO DIFFERENCE WHICH CANNOT BE SETTLED

Dispjjte Betwieri Ar & f, AfspiMw Aiid Racing Club Aired Publiely *4 "

fIt is my opinion that there is no ma^er at i^sue bet^yeen the Levin &acin*g Glub and the jHorowhenua A. & JB. ^sspcia.tiqn ,\yhicjb is capa^le of quick and easy solution by hoth bodies if each is geniiinely depirpus of reaching a solution. From my many contacts with your president and members of yqur coihm^ttee, | am c[uite sajtished that the associatjlon at least is genumely clesirojus of reaqhing a solutiop." ' Thjs was ^Ir. N. If. Tliqmsoq's summing up of ^h.e 4.ea^: lock whicji has beqn rea.chV^ Qyer 'the property in Mako MaltQ Road, jomtly qwhed by thje tW'q bqdies.- ' The first -.public ventiiation of the disppte as" ^een- by the asso.ciation w'as. made ap fi general i|ieeting pf 'th,d ih St./Mary's BTall, "Lqyin, ph'Thqrs^ay riight, a "statement of tlpe pQgjtipp. fodafe apd tlie' eveqts leadiqg up to it being majip 'by jthe president, Mr. J. A. Kilsby, who fhen called upon Mr. Thomson, as SQliGi^Qr fpj: the a^spciatiop, to give his accou.nt of the negotiations between the two bodies.

The facts showed clearly, said Mr. Thomson in th£ cqurse • of his. address, that tli.e asspciation wanted a solution and Had made every endeavqur'tq ob'taip Ope. The responsibility fo'r' the deadlock was not yqth the association. From the outiines' 'giveh by Mr; Kilsby and Mr. Thomson, • the sequence of everits appeared to be oriefly" that, "firstly, th'e club quesfcioned the mattqp qf ownership, then followed a ' large monetary clai'm against the associatibn and queslions abput the djvision of buildings arid'bther assets."' '' The next move was an offer from the club to buy out the association's interest' and on this being refused there followed th'e suggestion from the club that the association buy the club's s interest. The association agreed, providi'ng the -price femained on the same basis as that offered to th'e association. This was| n|ot acceptabjje tq the club, which then suggested that the matter be settled by arbitration. The asspciation had since asked that the two bodies carry on as before, and that the previous finance committee resunie the admi'nistration of the, ground under an independent" chairman. Nq repiy' had been received to * this or " any f uriher correspondence pn tlqe matter and that, accbrdirig to th'e speakers, was. how the positiqn reste'd today: It was pointed out thap'an unusual position existed in'tha't many members of the club a'nd associa--tion were members of bqth';bbdiesv Emphasis_ was laid on "the f a.ct that the association' clainie'd'iio hostility; towards either racipg as a. sp'or-o or the Levm mcing Club.' It feft that, hqth prganisations could use -the ground "as they h'ad ih 'fhe past apd it=was finally mqyfed hy A-1 M. Cqlquhqun, and' seconde.d^by Mh Thomson, that it be a recommendation that, a combined.meeting be held of the general membersliip *of both bodies, presided. over by the Mayor, Mr. H. B. Burdekin, or any other chairman that the ciub might prefer. This was carried unanimously and that . was how the position stood when the meeting ended. CIIAIRMAN'S SUMMARY He hoped that the breach or friction between the two bodies, would be ironed out said the chair-' man, Mr. Ki'sby, when opehing the meeting. He felt that any c'urtailment of the activities of either body as the result of ' continued dispute would only be detrimental to the district. The association's show was considered the leading dairy stock fixture in the Dominion outside the Waikato. The original 70 acres had been purchased in 1902 for the sum of £1500 by the .Horowhenua Park Company for development as a racecourse, proceeded Mr. Kilsby. The ' company then set about developing a course and erected a grandstand, stewards stand and' totalisator, and forme'd a training course and racing course. The additional cost to the company for the course and training track was aetually in the vicinity of £1900. The Horowhenua Hack Company then became the tenants. In 1907 the A. and P. association was formed and it held shows on the ground,

arcnougn it had not been laid out as a showground. The Park Company became financially embarrassed and offered to sell out to the raeing club. The racing club was not in the position to purchase it and eventually it was jointly purchased by the club and association at the price of £4500. How Land Was Paid For. Neither body had aetually paid any money for the land, as the funds were raise-d by the people of the district by the taking up of bonds. The, bonds were redeemed after five years, a numoer of people surrendering their bonds and thus saving the two bodies quite a sum. It was then financed by.the raising of a mortgage. The repayment of the bonds was made as followsRacing club £1500, A. and P.. association £200. It might seem strange, said Mr. Kilsby, that one should pay so mu'ch more than the other, but the. association at that time had to form a showground, whereas the--race track had already had £1900 spent on it. A finance committee of six, threa from each body, was formed .to control the grounds and both bodies became tenants and paid rental. The association jset about erecting buildings and canvassecT * for life members. Forty-five supporters became life members, paying £10 each. With money and help from supporters, and hy way of working bees, stock houses and buildings were erected. The oval had then to be made ready for use as a stock ring and this pro.ved hard work, as the ground was "as stony as the Ohau river foed." All these-

e * faqtors accountqp for the differejice in the repayment of the "debentidres. Ttje association built the cattle sheds, pens and hqme industries shed. **' Then came the war pn^i for "fqpr yeprs on end no show' wks held and ^the ground was used as a military camp. The last show prior to this saw all the -proceeds being donated • to the patriotic fphds, as ha^'peeh don.e dprihg tHje bfevibus* War, " but' the" ksSQCiatlon had continued- . to* p^,y its sl)g.re of the' upkeep. The ground was left in a bad state by the' military and the restoratipn work was diyjded, the ; association doing the c 'earing of the shoy7 qyal and the restpj'ati'on o'f 'tHe sheds. "TheYacing cliib wa's to attend to the other' part" of the ground. " ' ' . Bone Of Cantention. Qne boHe of cqhtcntion ip regard to the grouuds was the payment of a caretakert" Jn the year ended Mprch 31, 1949, the club paid £30p intd. ihe general pp.Ql arrd the ' association £113 10s 2d. The wages for the care'taker wer.e £3.64 jin that year, this being paid by the finance committee pufc of tlje general pool. The caretaker did'Hot work for the association, all his work being for the club, y'et "repeatedly it had been siated that the association did not pay its ^hare. Not' one member of the association had tl}e benefit of any cheap grazipg qn the course,' but once again racing club officials had.ithe.privil.ege/.,; '* " . , i The .qssociation . had beeix. told th^tvthe segrqtary of. the' rkcing clqbyvas to be the secretary of.the fifianc'e- committe^ fjjit no' minute to t(hi^, effect 1 had,.' ever beeri ,pro.dqped. Mr. Kilsby said he had never seen' oqe and he ha'd searched ihe minute hook. The same went for the chairman of the committee. He had t'd'be' a racing official'.' v A-.,.- motion . had- been , passed by the ; finance committee in 1919 that in the event of a partition of the . two bodies, the ground be divided, but later the club had moved that .this be resCinded, continued , Mr . Kilsby., The association had "been strorigly opposed to it being rescinded, but the chairman, Mr. W. Bull, had exercised his casting vote. The association had protestpd that under the Act the chairman had no casG ing vote. The chairman had still refused to alter his decision and the association members had walked out in protest. A meeting, presided over by Mr. Burdekin, had been the next move and at that meeting the club had admitted that Mr. Bull had no casting vote, but nothing had been done about it. Association Asked To Sell. The_ club had then asked xhe association to sell out its interest for the sum of £200 and shift its buildings on to a property in Tiro Tiro Road then leased by the president of the club, Mr. E. M. Ryder. There was no mention of this in the c^b's minutes except a paragraph refertring to the president's "generous offer to donate 20 acres to the association to establish independenx grounds." No such offer had been made, said Mr. Kilsby, only an offer by Mr. Ryder to transfer the

, leasehold of a property. That offer had been turned down by the association. The club made a further 'offer to the association to purchase the association's interests at valuai tion, such valuation to be a sum of not less than £1000. It had told Itne association that it could carry on where it was at a rental of £25 per annum for five years. This also had been turned down. A joint committee of six had then been set up, which had 'eventuaPy reached agreement. The agreement was not accepted by the club. Then came a further offer to buy, this time at £5000. The associatibn turned it down. The club had then asked if the association would be prepared to buy out the club's interest and the association had replied that it would, but on the same , basis and the same- terms "as the club had offered. fhe association. Tn conclusion, Mr. KPsby referreii to a finance committee. decision to call tenders for grazing on' the ground. This had been last year but so far no tenders had been called by th-e club. - * • The next speaker was Mr. C. E. C. Webb,. a .member of . the committee of six set up to make recommenda- ! tions, who outlined'the work of the ■ committee and its recommendations. {( MR. THOMSON'S REPORT When I( first came into this matter there was only one point at issue and that related to the- ownership of the ground," said Mr Thomson. It was most important that this point be borne in mind he added. "When t'he matter was referred to" the late Mr. M B Beygi-n .(fqr the club) and to' me (for the associatibn),' we had little

or no diificulxy- in reaching a complete agreement. The transfer. of ,ohe lanq wqs takeq in the 'nam'es of both fiodiqs' witjiouf ' >ny . shares . ceing 'specified, ah^ 3V[r;' Bergin hnd niyself 'had 'nb, difficulty hi depjding that 'under those- "circunistances both bodies owned thq property in equql shares, un'lqss §qine evidence as to some 'ofher' "shares could be jerpu'ght'Hefpre u"s. fTo 'such evidence 'exis|;s sq far' as I" know. . Bergin and myseif went further and dpew attention to/ the desirability of a constituiion for the finance committee. Both the club aqd; the asspeiatiqn accepted our decision in regard "to tHe ownership qf the 'lapd. ' In regard to the pro.posed consfcitution, however, the qiqp. feH that fhe question of the "ownership of the buildings should first be tackled; and that a settle- . ment Should' be reached ori certairi •* claims which the plub then submitte'd for moneys which it said were owihg to it 'by the 'association. Difficult Claims. "fh the first placp," continued Mr. Thomson, the monetary claims WCre difficult to deal with and seemed to have b.een put forward by the'' club yithout any ' very' sure foundation in fact. For instance, one of the claims was for £250 whicja the clqb' said was money tent to t}i(e pbmmittee, but wheq we wenfmto this"* matter it was found tfiat the clijb had preyiously been hard up and ha.d bbprowed £250 from the committee, ahd this item, so far from being an advance by the club tb the" committee, "was the repayment by the club of that loan." The speaker said that he and Mr. Bergin, after hours of work, "had reached agreement on the monetary claims, although there were some 'sma1l reservations on each side. TJnfortunately that agree- . ment was not' acce'ptable to the ciub, which thoiight' that Mr. Bergin, in agreeing to certain things, had not be'eh aware of the' true Ipesition. "Of course, Mr. Bergin [and I had both discussed the mat'ter in a Spirit of compromise 'and had both made concessions on'behaif qf our re^pective bodies. The club, of course, was not bound by our decisions." . , Correspondence Ignored. Commenting pn the committee of six set up to' bpipg forward recommendations, Mr. Thomson said: "After some 18 'meetings it reached a complete agreement on every single outstapding -matter and the cluh/deciihed to accept its decision. The club was then written to and •asked to sp.ecify the points with which it disagfeed. It Has .been asked more than qnce for a reply to.'.thafe- letter, : but -.'all' .such correspondence • "has -been-.- • compietely'--ignored. ' ; "At this stage ipy.a.dyice to the association wqs tp get the -finance committee going' 'again * aiiyway/' said Mr. Thomson, "We have concentrated on trying to dp that, even jyithout a constitution, but the club has ignored that correspondence also. „We suggested something a bit fcetter than the old .finance committee. Acting on instructions from the association, fI conveyed to .the club, through one of' its •stewards, a suggestion that . the finance committee should commence to cperate under an independent chairman, and we suggested as chairman the names' of Mr. H. B. Burdekin and Mr. T. G. Vincent. For good measure we also threw in the names of the t'wo solicitors who had been acting in the matter. We even said that the club could have as chairman of the committee its own sodcitor. It was , also made clear that if none of those names was usuitable, , the association would be happy to consider any other names suggested by the club. That is the last we ever heard of that suggestion." The facts showed clearly that the asociation wanted a solution and had made every effort to get one, concluded Mr. Thomson. MEMBERS' COMME^JTS Prior to the passing of the resolution asking for .a meeting of the members of the two bodies, other opinions were expressed as follows: Mr. R. L. Robinson: In regard to the building of a stand for the club, this wad covered in the recorpmendations of the committee. The whole assets of t'he joint owner's were to go into security for that expenditure. Mr. A. M. Colquhoun: I see no reason why the ground should not be run by the joint committee as in the past. The buildings put up by the separate bodies could be owned by each. It is a waste .to spend money on separate grounds. It is chiidish to be quarelling pver what aetually belongs to the public. Mr. A. McLeavey: I was a foundation member of the association and we always worked in with the club most cordially in the .past. I see no reason for not conlinuing as we' are. * . Mr. J. A. Kilsby: Yes, Mr. McLeavey is our oldest member and whi.e he1 was a president the raping "people lost their permit to race. We joined in a fighting front and eventually got back that perrriifc for the club. The association also paid all the costs of the campaign amounting to £19 2s, which shows the harmpny we worked under. ( Mr.;J. Blenkhorri: We are ^ot stopping the club from expanding. - We realise they, like us,. are progressive and must expand and IHey have done so in, the past witHout consulting us. We are proud of'the club and don't want to argue with it. Mr. J. H. Mungavin: I am a member of both bodies and don't'-Waiit to see either put out' of the grourid. It seems a pity that the recommendation of the committee was not accepted by the club. It is the best report I've ever seen brought down. Mr. Cqlquhqun: Why not hold a (Continued. on page 6) '

(Continued from Page 4) meeting of the members 'of both bodies. The members are the backbone of the organisations and the committees would have to abide by their ruiing. . .* Mr. R. W. Evans: What are you going to ask them. We have no right in my opinion to sell or talk of selling the ground. Mr. Thomson: There are only two things left, a Supreme Couro order or weight of public opinion. We have made every endeavour .ko ing for action. It is unthinkable that two sporuing bodies should go to law over a trivial tinpot dispute,; which can be- easily settled. It is being held up by an unreasonabie' few and I would be ashamed to be1long to either°body if it came to acourt action. . After further discussion. Mr. Colquhoun's motion was put to the meeting and carried,. The chairman, in concluding the meeting, thanked all rhose present for their interest and for attending in such large numbers. He hoped the suggestion would bear fruit and a settlement would be arrived at.