A. AND P. SOCIETY'S FUTURE.

Shannon News, 1 April 1924, Page 4

A. AND P. SOCIETY'S FUTURE.

MEMBERS DISGUSS POSITION

APPLICATION FOR LAKE DOMAIN

THE TICKET POLICY

An extraordinary general meeting of 'the Horbwheriua A. and P. Association was held at Levin oil Wednesday to consider the question of the financial position of the Association. Mr 'J; McLeavey occupied the chair. Tli'eae was an attendance of about 30. Letters of 'apology, for non-attendance were received from Messrs Kmgdon (president of the Association), Gornnaic aiid •'■'Tally. SALE OF RESERVE. The chairman, in opening :the-meet-ing,; iexpliiined that the financial position of the show necessitated some action being taken which would put it on a sounder basis than that at present occupied. He referred to a letter from Mr J. Kebbcll, Which had lately appeared in the columns of the press, advocating* the sale of the reserve of 40 acres at the Horowhenua ! Lake which he stated was not large enough to be used lor the purpose originally intended by the Government which had donated it for use as a racecourse and showgrounds. Mr Kebbell strongly urged that this reserve should ibe sold and the proceeds devotbd to the redemption of debentures on the present showgrounds. Personally he thought the idea an excellent one and he would, recommend .that the meeting consider the advisability of sending a deputation to wait on the Borough Council in regard to this being done. , Mr J. Howell endorsed chairman's remarks. The grounds, ,he stated, were used as a picnic ground for some time/after being found unsuitable for a racecourse but even for this purpose were now neglected in favour of the present showgrounds so that except to -the Golf Club, the 40 acres were of very little public benefit If the 1 aha" were sold and the monov ' used as suggested the town woiild. berteflt. considerably. ; Mr A. McL'eavey' also sbioported ;the stile of the reserve.. it mi'ght.be urged that fee land would be useful'"to the town but it must be remembered that >H :\yas" not given to benefit any one of trie ebmifninitv but the district -is" a whole, and he considered that this woiild be achieved best by disposirif of it and dfevbting the monev to the Purpose as indicated by : Mr ICebbell. lie would move that; a ''committee consisting of three members of the A. and P. Society and three representing the Racing Club wait on We Borough Cbiincil to urge that 1 lits be done. L This was seconded by Mr R. L. Horn. '■,...■• ..i x .-.-. .*. I Mr S. A. Broadbelt said, that the district was very'well catered for as I regards, recreation ..reserves, there be--1 ing three without counting the one at i was proposed to..dispose of. There 1 had been a rndverriient some years ago to sell this reserve but nothing had come of it, biit he thought, the time was now opportune for doing so. He felt that if they cbuld sell this land they could with the proceeds greatly I reduce the liability on the present showground arid put. the Association in a very sound position. > Mr H. J. Richards stated that'the proposal did not outline any new ; scheme. A similar one had been put [forward 15 years «agb but without success. Mr. T>. W. Goldsmith said that, as Mr Richards had stated, the matter was ah old one (but he doubted verymuch if it could be successfully resur, I rected. Looking at it at present there did not appear to be much necessity i for the reserve,' but they would be I well advised to look to the future when such an area situated so close to the lake,, would be a great asset to l the town. He considered that the matter was one which should be approached with the greatest' caution. It was not a mattier which could be dcided in a riuoment and he fancied that they would find considerable opposition would be raised, against it. Personally de did riot see that this would help: The thing tb consider was how to put the'Association footing where it would be self-sup-porting. , , Mr A. McLeaVey: -Do you think it would he better to lose the 70 acres than to get rid of the 40 acres? Voices: That's the point. Mr Goldsmith: I certainly would riot like to see the showground lost. Mr RrbadbeltV We must keep m mirid that we are not ! robbing Levin in any way by the auction that is suggested. We 'are only trying! to insure that the town will have the permanent use of 70 acres in exchange for the 40 acres of the reserve. There is a danger of losing this 70 acres which it must be remembered is not a public reserve although it is generally looked upon as one. We desire, to make it one in fact, and give the people a good reserve! for picnics, sports and so forth. ~..,. The chairman: That is so and with all appointments provided. ; Mr Horn also' agreed with the former speakers. If the 70 acre* were lost as appeared possible, thie Show and the race meeting would be lost also. . . , ' The motion was then put and carried unanimously, as follows: • c That a committee be set up consisting of three members of the Association with three members of the R'abing Club to wait on the Borough Council re the reserve of 42 acres near the lake, with a view of disposing of the said reserve, the purchase money to .be devoted'to reducing the liability on the present Showground." Messrs' S. Broadbelt, R. V. Brown, and A. McLeaviey. were appointed to represent the Association on the proposed deputation. CURRENT FINANCES. Mr N 7 Horrbtoin said that,' regarding the present finances of the Association it had been suggested previously that a shop day should be held tb raise the riibhey which was standing as a debit balance on last year's workThe matter had been discussed at a committee meeting and he was now of the opinion that it would be better if a subscription list were taken

round. He was certain that the general public were in favour of 'the A. and P. Society and fielt that if they were canvassed the Association would meet with considerable support. Last year When the Mardl Gras was bein«, held for the same purpose he had had a fair amount tq do with its running ( and a number of people had expressed themselves in favour of a canvass instead of the indirect way of approaching the, public. . Mr Howell supported this, saying that a levy of £1 per member might also be made. | The chairman: You are putting fihe burden on to the willing horse. The show benefits the whole community | and they should support it. , ( Mr Horrobin: What the chairman has said is correct. The show is of interest to bbtti town and country and not only to members of the Association. I will formally move that a canvass be made, arrangements to be left in. the hands of the committee. • This was seconded by Mr R. V. Brown, who said that an endeavour should be made to get back the members who had been lost of recent years through not sending out the tickets as had been previously done. The number lost, through this means would be a surprise to the average member, and was sufficient in itself to account for the unsatisfactory position of the Association. He asked the secretary to give a outline of the financial position for the past

four years. This was given as follows: donations! 1921. £l3l ss; 1922, £110; 1024, £101; and 1924, Just under £IOO. Members' subscriptions: 1920, 40 nie members.. £400; 1921, current subscriptions £321; 1922, £248 10s; 1923, £226; Entry fees:* 1921, £122 18s; 1922. £162 2s; 1923, £l7O 17s, and 1924, £204 17s.' the increase for the. present year, the secretary explained was to the increased fees charged and not to an increase in entries. The prize money for the periods given had been about tie same, namely: 1921 £390; 1922 £420; 1923, £403 10s; and 1924, £3BB 155.. . ' ■ ' ASSOCIATION AT FAULT. Mr Broadbelt said that it seemed to bini that the. Association was .to blame to a certain extent for the position If they had gone round the district and canvassed for donations and trophies and more important still for new- membership, the, Association, would not .to in the moribund condition which it now Was..; He considered that an appeal should , be ,inade from Paraparaumu to Linton, wihich were the boundaries, of the district, and he was confident that there were men all through this area who could be secured as members. The secretary (Mr R. DV Wallace) said that in -1914 the A. and P. Association had approached the Bank for ah overdraft of £IOO. When this was rerriembered it would be seen that tro Association was not actually going back as this 1 was practically the extent of the present liability.. It must also be remembered that during the war thie 1 whole of the profits made during those flush years to an amount of £565 were donated to the War Relief Funds. If this money had been kept the Association would now be ma flourishing position. He did not wish it to be thought that he considered that the Association had not been justified in so disposing of this money but it was a fact that must be kept in mind when considering the position. WEAK MEMBERSHIP. Mr Goldsmith said that without right direction and would suggest doubt the weak spot was the membership arid it was possible that in this respect-they had been rather parochial. He Was -of opinion that the new scheme of issuing members tickets which (had been in use for two years and had resulted in a loss of £SO per year during that period, should be abolished. He quite agreed that it was not wise to look for outside "assistance to any great extent: the thing Was to put the show on suCh a fobtirig that it would be able to stand on its own feet- Regarding the sendirig but of thie tickets there Was no question but that the present scheme was the more but it must be remembered that in this matter they were looking for patronage, so that it did not do to stand on ceremony. . Mr R. V. Brown said that he • felt that it was not a question of subscriptions so much as a general lack of interest in the show, to other places, business men and everybody carrie along and helped to run the show. This was what was wanted here. Mr N. Horrobiri stated that the secretary's statement that the ; Association had not gone back was open to question, when the strides taken by the "district since 1914 were taken into- consideration, it was anything but a matter for pride that the Association should have remained in the same unsatisfactory flriaincial position. He contended that the committee was not to blame so much as the general public. During the whole time he had been on the committee not one suggestion had beeri receiyed from an outsider although there were plenty of street-corner critics.

THE TICKET POLICY. A letter from Mr G. Tully was read favouring tbte old method of sending out tickets with ttiei proviso that \vlhen a member received a ticket for one year and did not pay for it no more tickets should be sent out until the first'was paid for. • Mr Bro'adbelt explained that ibid suggestion mad© at the committee meeting which had sat to consider the .question, was that a ticket should be issued to members part of which could be torn off leadti day. In this way a check could be Kept on tickets, jf would be known who made us© of them and iti would he an easy matter "tq discover if they had been' paid for. Mr Horrobini then! moved that a canvass Mel'made'- lor new members and also donations from members and dthers. Mr E: V. Brovyfr seconded this motion. Mi* Richards said that the Association's first endeavour should be to

get J>ack the members lost through lie ticketbungje. ber of these but certainly there, were manv new members w&Q might be secured. The district was growing and a proper V6anviSs:'w;otlld reveal VnoMere anxious to join up. He had'himself been a member and, had dropped a number of others'6wing ! to the dissatisfaction as to the distribution of tickets, having preierreit to, go along like an ordinary member of the public and pay at the gate. It was to be regretted that members VAA been losras every member lost meant a decrease iin tne interest taken in the show. 1 Personally he was willing to become 1 a member again and, suggested that 1 as largje a number of members should be secured'as possible,. ■■ The chairman said that the tune was ripe to make an. explanation regarding the: change made in the manner ol distributing the tickets. .The committee had taken up the position that as a number of people were using tickets and not paying,for them then in fairness to the other members something should be done }o stop an abuse which was losing the Association a considerable, number of pounds annually. The committee had felt that memibers would.not object to the change but, as i]t was evident that they did, the best thing, they, could do was to go back to the old system. One idea he.wished to correct was that the secretary was responsible for the change. This was not a fact t h.Q having only obeyed the instructions

of the committee. ,^s*:i;r.m LACK OF PUBLIC INTEREST. Mr Howell said that he wished ,to refer again- to the lack of , interest taken in the Association hy ; the puhUc of the town and more particularly by the business men. The present meeting had been well advertised and the public invited tf> attend. Yet the f attendance wag distinctly disappointing. Mr A. i. Holms explained that he was not a member although he would be glad to join but was present as the result of the cordial invitation extended to the public in the advertisement of the meeting. He agreed with:a previous speaker that the people of Levin did not appreciate the value of the show fromt a business point of view. He himself came from the Wairapa thev, did dp so. In Masterton and (Carterton the whole town stood solidlV; behind thr shows with the result, thati they were-twoof the best in ■'• New "Zealand and attracted visitors and/ consequently, business, from all parts. . He could'not speak as a business mnn in regard to the local fixture but ho could speak from tftie viewpoint of. an -outsider and he knew that outsiders judged-a district to , a great extent by the Show, that !it could put on: He considered that theproposed canvass was a mo.ve.in thethat whilst on it they should endeavour to get a number, of new;life memhers. ; There were a,..number of prosperous fanners in the district who would probably Lo qnly (too willmg pq become life members, if they were approached. Regarding the; canvass, ■not only shoultt the district right through be canvassed, but an organisation should be built up to backbit up afterwards; There should be representation of the various places right through the districtand (he considered that such representation, which would keep interest alive in places remote from the centre would be one of the most vitalising schemes which could toe adopted. Each place from Paraparaumu to Linton 'should have a representative on the commit'tee, who would look after the interests of his own locality particularly and whose connection would keep the interest maintained right through the district. The chairman explained that as regards district representation, they had years ago had members of ■the committee distributed throughout the district from Paraparaumu to Tdkomaru, but it was so hard for these-'men to attend owing to distance! that it gradually died out It would certainly appear, however; as if the time were ripe for ire-adopting the system Mr K. Aitken said that in regard to what had been said of • the lack of interest displayed in the Association by local business men, it was unfortunately true. He had expected a larger attendance at this meeting and was disappointed at the poor response of his fellow business men to the invitaj tioh sent out. It was, possible that something might be done by the Association to stimulate this interest, by giving direct representation on the committee so that they would feel that thei ririterests would be safe-guarded.

The value of a show to a town was widely recognised. Take Palmerston North for instance, .where the business people looked upon show time as their yearly harvest. To a lesser degree the same thing btained here, and it was up to the business men to do what they could to help the local fixture along 1 . The chairman said that under the new miles any man could be nominated for tJhle committee 14 days prior to the general meeting, so that the business men had only to put up their members for nomination. Regarding the present meeting, it was held on Wednesday specially so that the business men of the town would.be able to attend, 'but they had failed to do so. . . _ REDUCTION OF COMMITTEE.

Mr N. Horrobiri's motion from the annual general meeting, that the committee should be. reduced from 25 to 15 members came up for consideration. • 1 , The mover, speaking in support of the reduction, emphasised that it was better to have a smaller number of enthusiastic workers than a large number who could not be got together for meetings. By cutting the oonu mittee down to the suggested, number an election would be insured and they would get the right men in. The chairman'advised that fh6 motion be held over until after the canvass of the district was made. It was suggested that representation should be given to each, place rigiht through the district and it might be found difficult to do this .with the reduced number of committeemen suggested in the motion:. ■ Mr Richards said it was a toad idea to reduce the general committee. It

would be better to keep the size of the committee Up and reduce the quorum. Mr Broadbelt said that about isx years ago' the committee had been 31, with a small executive. This number had been reduced to 25, but it now looked as if they should restore t)he larger number. It was a good thing to have general . representation and then elect a working executive. The motion, which was supported by Mr G. Catley, .was lost on the voices. PATRIOTIG DONATIONS. Mr Rod. McDonald said that he thought it highly probable that there were hundreds of people in the district who were ignorant of the fact that the local Association had given £SOO towards the patriotic funds. He considered that the position of the Association was not unsatisfactory when this fact was taken into consideration. He supported the idea of a general canvass of the district and felt sure that a large number of new mfembers would be' secured. The chairman said that he felt sure that the Racing Club would do what it could to assist with a canvass, and he would approach them in this regard. He considered that good work had been done at this meeting and hoped that a great improvement would be noticeable in the -affairs of the Association as the result A hearty vote of thanks to the chair terminated the meeting. -,