STRATFORD RACING CLUB.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVI, Issue 91, 21 August 1913, Page 7

STRATFORD RACING CLUB.

ANNUAL MEETING. The annual meeting of members of the Stratford Earing Club was held last night, the (.’resident (Mr A. W, Budge; being in the chair. HE POUT AND BALANCE-SHEET. in moving the adoption of the report and balance-sheet, the chairman said that at last annual meeting it had been decided to make, improvemenst at the course. It /had been decided to make a new entrance road. Tenders were called for the work, but the tenders received were so high that it was decided to do the work by day labour. As* a' result money had been saved on tiie job. He thought that the proportion written off for depreciation should be lowered. At the present rate of ten per cent, per annum the whole cost of the buildings would be wiped off in ten years, though the buildings should last much longer than that. He thought the civil) could ho congratulated on its present position, which was attributable in very great measure to the very zealous work of the officers of the dub. The club was fortunate in having members who were prepared to (spend a considerable amount of theii' time on the duties of committeemen and stewards. The Various sub-com-mittee#; were also deserving of every praise. Mr Pitt, as the farm committee, had shown excellent results and Mr J. B. Richards as tree-plant-ing committee could be relied on to do everything possible to improve the look of the grounds.

Mr W. H. H. Youn£ seconded themotion. He said that although a good sum of money had been spent on permanent improvements to the course, the overdraft Had been slightly reduced. The motion was carried. ELECTION OF OFFICERS. The following officers were elected ■unopposed, being the only nominations: President, Mr A. W. Budge; vice-pi resident, Mr W. H. H. Young; member of committee, Mr J. R. L. Stanford; auditors, Messrs S. H. James and L. Riera. On the motion of the chairman it was decided that in future only one auditor be appointed. THE GUARANTORS. Mr J. Fredric moved in the direction of having the number of members elected,to the committee by the, guarantors reduced from five to four. The chairman pointed out that whereas Mr Fredric in his circular, on the matter said the asset<? ; .wpre worth" £Booo,' the balance-sheet said,the value was) £-1500... ~t . ~r n, ii ■

‘Mr Fredric," in moving his motion, said lie, thought ,the tippy'had. come when thoj.ojub i|(? run by, its mem heirs. The time had:, parsed when thought that.- in. 'the .halapeo-rsheqt the ~ value of the assets was placed too low, and that anybody would pay £BOO,O ; for . r ;flxeiiVj.-'iand.-.-n They; had sufficient assets to run the club without , guarantors, and they shous,,9t/ibjsst give, a,change a trial. that (guarantors (should haye:,,yjc -fullest. Iprotection-.i Hfc'Avas not saying that,the club hud been run .badly, p It had been,, run well, but >he. thought fthpri mefnbepsshould haX'o some filmro in 'the' ntanageme it'of the club.- -. Mr C. J). Sole seconded pro forma. Ho tl.ought Mr Fredric should have moved that the guarantors should be reliev'd of their responsibility. He could not see that the motion could he carried unless the guarantors' were relieved. The chairman said that if the motion were carried the guarantors would at once give the bank ifotice that they were no longer responsible. It would have been better to have the matter brought up as suggested by Mr Sole. Ho said he would like to go back a little in the history of the club. He could remember when the club was in anything hut a flourishing condition. The land was held under lease and when the time of the expiration of the lease arrived The lessor declined to give an extension, and said the club could exercise its right .to purchase or drop the lease. A meeting of the committee was called and it was decided, if }>ossil)lc, to purchase the land. At the time money was not particularly plentiful, and it took considerable difficulty to get a set of names which would satisfy the hank as a guarantee. The' bank warnot favorable to the proposal, .but I finally a satisfactory list of guarantors I was compiled and a guarantee of £4200 waft entered into. It was not j right to say now to those guarantors | that they were no longer required. Ilf the motion had been put in a difforlent way it might have been carried.. He would oppose the motion for the simple reason that he did not approve of the manner in which it had been brought forward. The club had a perfect right to say how it should he ! eon trolled. A question of sentiment was involved. A great deal of loyalty Iliad been displayed by the guarantors i in coining forward. Personally, he :JuVd only been connected with the club ! for ten years and did not take any {credit to himself for what had been {done. He was not speaking on his jo'wn behalf. He thought it would lie I hard to find a more zealous and hard--1 working set of officials than the club now had. These officials had spent •inich of their time and some money 'on behalf of the club, and the action r ;-,v proposed in the motion before I j,,, mooting, to his mind, savoured of .ingratitude. Mr W. P. Kirkwood said he would L. 0,, )S * the motion in its present form. \v :| , tlioro were guarantors they '.mil I bo properly protected, He ■, ;,■,■!;i have supported a motion that i i a ran tors be relieved. He be- . Pc red that in present circumstances I a sir .ight-out mortgage could he got jVom Jie Bank. As to the guarantors

ie believed that everything they had lone had been in the best interests oi die Club. He had been a guarantor wer since a guarantee was necessary. :'he present risk in connection with lie overdraft was nothing like it had been in the past. Mr J. H. Richards moved as an imendmont that the Club place on record its appreciation of the service;'. iiVe; guarantors have rendered in the last and requests the committee to relieve them of their liability when convenient. The Chairman said he would require notice of such a motion. Mr F. Tyrer doubted if even the iriginal motion could be taken. He .bought that the rule laid it down that rho meeting had no power to move in tjho matter—-that any action must he taken by the guarantors themselves. Mr Young said that speaking personally as a guarantor he had no de■iira to retain the power which in the hard days it had been necessary to give tjio guarantors. In the past the Bank had given the money at a certain pate of interest, the security heir, g good, but ft a plain mortgage- wast takeni the ■ ratio of'interest might be in croaked-. He thought the upcoming cpniraitt.ee (should ho recommended Ho go into, tire whole question. Mr W. J. Morrison said Mr Fredricf Ipid-.ad/a.nctfd no single reason-in, .support of. tbje-cha'nge;.and,laad indicated >io direction' in *wlficH t the! actions of ;ho guarantors had been against the interests of the Club. That meeting .mb power to .increase'.the liability of the guarantors, and this would be done if the number of them were decreased. If one guarantor was cut off, the icom'mdttee, why not cut 'them all off? • i ‘"‘l,- I". ! ■■ l :i .V"V‘-

■'After tfonsiclefablo discussion on tin? Rcstion - whether A! r It innards’ 'motion :hul> ; T 'bo’ tuken.-iit all, it 'was 'decidedto take - it Hater as o' new motion. Mr FrddriA- in reply, said ‘the op p?)treats' of the motion had -hrotight forward no good reason against it. It was merely a matter of principle. He e,udd not sco why tlio guarantors should desire to retain the .guarantee. CJeneraHy guarantors were glad to he rid of their, liability. It was n democratic country and Mr Morrison was one of the most democratic people ii. it and yet ho advocated twelve men cunning a club with sixty membeis. Mr Morrison said ho had said nocking of the sort. He had said he .vivs onito willing to relinquish his position a.s guarantor. Mr Frcdric’s motion was lost, a very small number voting tor it. Mr Richards, in moving bis motion, said a debt of gratitude was duo to the guarantors, who bad come fo the help of the Club when its assets wore small and the risk was considerable, !To protection -which was given, allowing them to appoint a majority on the committee, was perfectly right in the circumstances, but he thought that if -,vas intended at the time that they should only retain control of the Club s affairs until the Club was able to manage for itself. , Mr-Kirkwood seconded. He felt sure that even if the guarantors were relieved, the present committeemen would be re-elected. Mr'.l. R. L. Stanford thought the present an inopportune time to change the Club’s financial system. Mr S. Pitt said Mr Fredricks' suggestion that the guarantors wished to retain power in order to pack the committee had no weight, as the guarantors had gone outside themselves for ,1 person to appoint to the committee. The motion was carried, a very few voting against it. THE TRAINING TRACK. Mr Eredric then moved in accordance. with.-notice that a sum ol £'3oo 1)0 retained out of the profits oi the forthcoming race meeting for the purpose of improving the training track. Me believed the motion was hardly in order, but lie desired to bear discussion on the question. He thought Hie Club lost a good deal of revenue through horses being sent away toi training. If there were suitabb training tracks bo thought it would lean inducement to residents to own horses. If horses were sent away for training the cost to the owner was increased. He was quite-willing that his motion should merely be r. recommendation to the committee to go into the matter. The Chairman said members v/rndd

be astounded-if they knew how much money had been spent on the preson t training dtraek; He had seen the-track made good and after a heavy downpour of raiir the track w ould be all scoured out. and the ditch full;' It had: been suggested -teat a sand track should be made, but lie was certain that within three weeks not a particle pip s:pid would remain On the track. The,Club should' provide Revelry facility for trainers, but lie did net think that moneys spent on the >- tracks ' w6tdd greatly iUc'rehke the number 'of‘horses tained. In winter' Vho' weather wak too wet to allow training to proceed properly. ; ” ", ~,, Mr T). J. Malone said that, with the money now being spent a good training track would be provided. 3,'ho motion, reeoniVnencling the opmndtt.eeltp go into the matter, was carried. •( V , ' ... ,