A FALLACIOUS POLICY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1713, 2 April 1913, Page 4

A FALLACIOUS POLICY.

» —• —• MATTER OF PUBLIC GROUNDS. FOR BOWLS AND TENNIS, (lly "Sylvius.") Out of a simple application made by the Keljnirne Bowling Club to be allowed the privilege of making beautiful a tiny patch of gorsc-enciimberal Town Belt has arisen a proposal from his Worship tlio Mayor that tho identical picco of ground be made tho.site N of a public bowling green. Again, a member .of tho City Council, who ought to know better, has proposed that out of tho carnival funds a public itennis court should be laid down near the Kilbirnie tuiuiel on the Town Belt. Theso gentlemen havo become very solicitous on behalf of the. public all of a sudden. Can it be that there is an election brewing? Surely not! Still, whether there is or is not, such proposals raise the question—a big policy question —as to whether or not this city lias not gone far enough in the way of providing sports grounds. Is not the ratepayer, who may not be so riolcn'tlv interested in sport at all, bearing quite enough burden- in respect to civic expenditure 011 snorts grounds, which in the past has absolutely killed the spirit of self-help in the many thousands who aro actively interested in the games for which the grounds are provided. • It appears to jne that Mayor and councillors aro killing themselves to produce new ideas, which, if successfully taken up, will give them some little kudos, and so push their barrows along the public way a little. They wouid bo much better occupied in inquiring into the very latest methods of doing tho ordinary work incumbent upon a City Council, and- in safeguarding the expenditure in every _ possible way not inconsistent with efficiency. I would respectfully suggest; that the idea of public bowling and tennis grounds in Wellington is as fallacious and misleading as Tom Hood's "Plain Direction," "Straight down the crooked lane, And all round tlio square." Tako Mr. M'Larcn's scheme of a public bowling green first. He proposes that it shall be laid down on the slope of the hilfr below Kelbume, entirely out of the reach of tho real public, and in close proximity to a class of citizen, the bowlers of which already belong to club 3 which they are hardly likely to desert to play on a public green. And then, as bowls is a game which exists largely on tho social relations fostered by the clubs, and in the weekly intcr-club fixture, hoiv is a public green going to exist at all in the community? If it is to be really a "public" green—and not a green owned by the council and run by a club (in which case it is not a "public" green)—where is Mr. Mavor going to get his players from? A public green cannot become affiliated to the Northern Bowling Association, 011 the Wellington Bowling Centre, unless a propcrlv-constituted club is formed, and once a club is formed how can the green be called ii "public" one? I stress this point as important.' No Demand for Public Greens. I would also like to point out that whilst there is not the remotest chanco of the Mayor being able to secure enough "public" players to mount the Kolburne. hill to play those who may be perfect strangers ito them, that tliero .has been absolutely 110 demand for a public bowling green in Wellington. The Kelbtirne Club authorities havo attempted to get a ■bit. of Town Belt land for "a green is tho outcomo of tho doublo desiref to improve the financial position of the club, and at the same timo mako beautiful a small patch of civic wilderness. No suggestion was ever made by anyono that <1 public green in such it situation would pay-its 'way. Thero aro ample clubs in tho city to provide greens for players, and no Suburb is Toally complete without its bowling green, and they all have them, as witness Johnsonyille, Khandallali, Hataitni, Lyall Bay, Seatoun, Karori, Mand Bay, and now Eastbourne is going to have d tiri'vate club 'green. The Rates Injustice. It is true that there havo been attempts made to obtain some remission of rates 011 these greens, as it was thought only'fair that whilst free grounds were being made for tho cricketers and footballers (for which everyone,, including tho bowlers, wero rated), that some consideration should bo shown those who do providy their own grounds, and maintain them 111 a "better condition than any of the council's grounds,'but the appeal fell' upon stony ground.- Now, the Mayor proposes a public bowling green, on which the as a w'liole will pay the ratesassuming tho council agrees to his proposal, which I should not think is likely. Public Tennis. The notion of providing a public tennis court is equally as absurd, except perhaps for the little clique in the immediate vicinity, ij'ho would, sooner or later, run the show. There is 110 call for a public tennis court. I have spoken to several tennis players, and -nowhere can I locate a desire for public courts. If the council wero in' earnest over tho improvement of the. Town' Belt; one would imagine that they would bo only too delighted to hand over bi'ts of the "garter" to be formed into tennis courts and bowling greens, on siich conditions that would not give any club or body of people a lease-in-perpetuity, but would give them a sufficiently lengthy tenure, under such conditions as would justify tlieni in laying down the grounds. No 0110 who behaves himself is refused admittance to a bowling green or a tennis court, except on very extraordinary occasions, and these green patches would bo oases of verdure instead of a rambling gorse-grown waste. Public Control Not the Best. To clinch my argument. I would point out that the public control of grounds in the past has not been such as to inspire confidence in the future. Take the , Basin Reserve! Hero i's a ground • forty 'years old or more, which should ba in the pink of condition, and on which tho Wellington Crickot Association has spent thousands of pounds, and to-day, though still in- the best sit©, and still tho most valued ground, is tho most neglected ono ip the For the past twenty years ,0110 half of'this very line area has been absolutely neglected,-and tho pavilion has been allowed to go to such wreck and ruin, that when Mr. Morton was asked to report upon repairing it the other dttv, ho said lliat it was past repair, and sat down thero and then and planned a big 'Koheiuo which means the remodelling of the whole ground. If it;had not been for Mr.'Morton tlio council would have gone along muddling with the ground until further notice, nnd tho old' pavilion would gradually sag to earth through natural decrepitude' mid deplorable neglect. Yet it is the Town Council who would control public bowling greens. It will indeed be a sad day for bowling men when players depend" on the City Council for their grounds. Those of tho City Councillors who aro bowlers will not be at any pains to discover tlio fallacy of tho public grounds policy as affecting bowls, and if Mr. M'Laren could only bo induced to play the game, lie would not be long !n changing his tune.