Question of Finance.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 85, 1 April 1914, Page 5

Question of Finance.

IN THE RACING CLUB. * A NEW GUARANTEE SYSTEfrt. A general meeting of members of the Stratford Racing Club was held in the Borough Council Chambers last night. The president (Mr A. W. Budge) was in the chair. The Chairman said he was pleased to see such a large gathering of members. The Chairman said that the notice of motion given by Mr Young to alter the rules in the matter of tire powers of the guarantors could not be accepted. He was sorry this was so, as the opportunity was a good one to have the matter thrashed out. Air W. H. 11. Young said he was sorry his notice of motion could not be accepted. Ho thought the wording of the rules was in the direction of allowing such action. The Chairman said the rules were apparently drawn up to ensure that [rules could only be altered at an annual meeting.

RELIEVING THE GUARANTORS. Mr Young, proceeding to discuss the remaining business, said that at the last annual meeting it was understood that the guarantors would be relieved of their responsibility as early as convenient. There had been no endeavor by the committee to do so, and therefore the meeting had been called as provided by the rules. If the committee did not now relieve the guarantors, when would they? He would move that the Club’s bankers be instructed to relieve the' present guarantors of liability and that no more money be advanced until they are so relieved. Mr W. P. Kirkwood seconded the motion. He said the members of the Club should have the right to govern their own affairs, which was in the spirit of the times. Racing in New Zealand was a popular sport

among the democracy, and was not, as in older lands, the sport of the rich. In the Stratford Club there had been a tendency to make the Club exclusive. The Club had sixty members, but he thought it would be far. more successful if there were six hundred. At first there had been about thirty guarantors but now the number had been cut down to twelve, but those twelve dominated the policy of the Club. The minority on the committee did not to stagnate the affairs of the Club, but they wished to change the methods of control. This minority had a constructive' policy.- Personally, - he had been a guarantor for about fifteen years 1 and had no desire to escape his responsibility. The present system of guarantee, joint and several, was, he was sure, distasteful to the guarantors, and he thought another form of guarantee, each and several, would be more acceptable. He was prepared to give a written guarantee that the Club could be financed in the manner stated. It was desirable that • the resolutions passed at the annual meeting should be given effect to or at least taken into serious consideration. He was very sorry to know that Mr J. B. Richards had resigned from the executive as a protest against the resolutions of the annual meeting of members not being given effect to. Mr Richards had been a useful member of the executive and had never’ shirked any duty' allotted to him.

THE CHAIRMAN’S VIEWS. The Chairman’s speech, read by the secretary, was as follows: — With reference to the terms of the notice, discussion of which forms the business of this meeting, I would point out that there are really two different matters referred to therein, viz., (1) the question of relieving , the guarantors from liability and

(2) tho action of the Committee in binding the Club to certain expenditure for improvements without reference to tho members of the Club. Dealing with the first point, I think it is agreed that the object of the resolution passed at the last annual meeting requesting the committee to take steps to release the guarantors [when convenient urns primarily for | the benefit of the guarantors themI selves, and secondly that the Club

should have a purely elective committee, not a committee on which the guarantors held the preponderance of power. At the date of the last annual meeting the Club owed the Bank some £2500, and the members present at that meeting considered that if this amount could be obtained on suitable terms without the aid of the guarantors, steps should bo taken by the Committee to finance the Club apart from the guarantors. With this view I think most members of the committee will agree. But at the last annual meeting no mention of any further improvements to the Chib’s property being required was

even mentioned —let alone discussed. Nor at that time had the committee any scheme of further improvements in their mind. It is reasonable, therefore, to assume that the then liability of the Club to the Bank, plus , the ordinary working expenditure and i improvements then in hand, would be ! the limit of the Club’s liability. I feel sure, and I think I can also speak for a majority of the committee that, had the members then known that it was absolutely necessary, if the Club is to keep abreast of the times and give the public facilities and conveniences, equal to those of its surrounding competitors, that considerable sums would require to be expended during the succeeding 12 months, they would have, without hesitation, unanimously agreed that.

rather than see the Club experience a retrogression, that the guarantee should remain in force, in the event of the Bank refusing to advance the amounts required without it. It is possible, therefore, and to me it looks probable that the resolution passed at the last annual meeting was based upon a misconception of the amount required by the Club during the ensuing 12 months. Had a majority of the commitee considered that the resolution passed at the last annual meeting meant that the members desired the committee to make the release of the guarantors the chief and only consideration and to ignore the absolute requirements of the Club and the purpose for which the Club exists then, if it were possible, the guarantors would have been released. Without breach of faith I may say that this matter has received grave consideration,' and been very fully discussed in committee arid the conclusion the committee came to was that it was never the intention of the last ahnual meeting when the resolution brought forward at that meeting was passed, that that meeting intended that the Club, if it tailed to release the guarantors, was t so far as necessary improvements are concerned, to stand still. If that is the feeling of this meeting I think it would he as well to have the matter very clearly put. If the Club thinks that any scheme J embracing further permanent improvements should not be proceeded with until the guarantors are relieved of liability, then the Club had better say so straight out. I think the words “when convenient” in the motion passed at the last annual meeting were not inserted lightly, hut were put there for the purpose of giving the committee a discretion. These words should never have been insert* ed in that resolution if the intention, of the Club was ,as I have already stated, to relieve the guarantors at the expense of the Club. It might be as well to here state that the appointments of the Club are not up to the standard of Hawera and New. Plymouth and other clubs, and are in many respects not even approaching them.

In view of the facts that our Club’3 meeting is now as largely attended, and that our totalisator investments equal those of the other centres, this lack of accommodation is not justifiable. and if the Club is to hold its position in the racing world a policy, of progress must be initiated and maintained. In 1912 Hawera expended upon improvements £IOOO, New Plymouth £1000; in 1913 Hawera £IOOO, New Plymouth £3OOO, and for the present year these clubs contemplate expending: Hawera £1350, New Plymouth £3OOO. The members of the committee are unanimous upon the necessity for these improvements to course, buildings and appointments, and in these days of strong public criticism it behoves every dub to keep thoroughly up to date. In the event of a fresh Racing' Commission being set up to reduce the days of ’ racing, it is certain that those clubs with inferior appointments will suffer first. We have already had in-* stances of this in Taranaki.

Dealing with the second point raised in the requisition calling this meeting, I desire to remind you that never before in the history of this Club has it been considered necessary by either the members or the committee to call special meetings before embarking on permanent improvements which the committee considered of benefit to the Club.

So far as my memory serves me, the members have never at any annual or special general meeting, or otherwise, indicated to the committee their desire to oe consulted before the expenditure of money in permanent improvements was taken in hand. If, lon the other hand, the members of this Club thought that.their committee was expending money unwisely, I feel confident that it would have been [brought forcibly home to the committee at the first meeting of memibors thereafter. There is not one Iclub in Taranaki that consults its ! members before course improvements !are put in hand. The rules of our Club do not require that the commit-*

tee should consult the members before proceeding with improvements*

Rule la giyeg the committee the fullest powers during its term of office, and rules 17 and 33 also refer to the control by the committee. In 1902 some £1320 was expended in improvements, in 1903 the freehold of the property leased to the Club ■ was acquired for £2744, in every succeeding year, with the exception of 1907, improvements were made, totalling in 1910 £441, in 1911 £BBO, in 1912 £1289, and in 1913 £694. In no single instance were these expenditures referred to the members for approval, and at no single annual or other general meeting was the actions of the committee adversely criticised or its attitude questioned. Therefore, in undertaking expenditure for the improvements now contemplated, . the present committee is in no way whatever, infringing the rules of the Club, or departing from the estalishebd custom and practice of the past. I may mention here that the heavy expenditures of Hawerc, New Plymouth and Waverley already referred to have, in each case, been incurred solely by their respective committees without any reference whatsoever to the members. There l is, therefore, ample precedent and justification, should any ho needed, for this Committee’s action. 1

In conclusion, I may say that application has been made to the head office of hankers at Wellington to ascertain tho maximum advance they would make upon the security of the Club’s freehold property only, and we are now advised that the limit would ho under £2OOO.

It has been, all along since last annual meeting, the intention of the committee to release the guarantors if tlie Bank would do so, and yet supply the funds required, and tho Bank would certainly have been approached in this direction well before the next annual meeting. This is indicated by a resolution passed at a committee meeting held on, the 6th of last month (February). All of the committee were alive to the necessity of . tlie Improvements being undertaken. Your committee considered it was fully justified in’ proceeding with the improvements it has undertaken and in,contemplating the further improvements it has in view. If, on the other hand, this meeting considers that it is. primarily the committees’ duty to release the guarantors, even at the expense of the Club’s welfare, it is the duty of this meeting to say so clearly and unmistakably to-night. : i'" ! 'V: '■ ' t ANNUAL; MEETING MOTION. Mr Fredric said that at the annual meeting he had moved in the direction of making the committee elective. An : amendment moved by Mr Richards was carried, and only three members voted, against it. Therefore there could not he any dqubt in the minds .of members as to the meaning of the resolution. He* doubted if, any steps had been taken torelease the guarantors. After tho annual racing meeting the committee was in an excellent position to do so. He asked what steps had been taken. Tlie secretary read letters which had passed" between the committee and the bankers, which indicated that the action of tlie majority of the committee and the views held by them as to the financial position were correct. ,j; . , .

Mr J. R. L. Stanford said he agreed with the chairman’s speech. If the meeting wished the guarantors relieved before any expenditure is made the meeting should plainly indicate ,s'o. He desired to draw attention to the manner in which the Club had prospered. During the past six years the Club had never made a profit of less than a thousand pounds on the annual race meeting. As to Mr Kirkwood’s idea of guarantee, he doubted if men could be got to shoulder responsibility for such a large amount without being given some say in the management of the ClubT The committee had frequently discussed tin? matter, but they did not wish to stop the progress of the. Club. OPPOSITION. Dr. Paget said the question had been fought hard at the annual meeting, and in the end a mild motion was passed, asking that the guarantors be relieved “as soon as convenient.” More would be required than the subtle arguments advanced that night to convince members that the committee hod acted in good faith. Ho had raised the first guarantee—ten sums of £25 each. Then the Club got a lease of the course with a purchasing clause. Before the course was bought the guarantee was increased as also w r as the number of guarantors. The number of guarantors was twenty-five, and the power on the committee was, as ho saw it, vested in those guarantors. A few years ago a new list of guarantors was j made out, not by a general meeting j of members, but by the committee, and guarantors not pleasing to the ] chairman were cut out. If this was right, then the committee had the right to appoint Mr Budge, Mr Pitt, or Mr Stanford as sole guarantor to/the Club, with the full power provided for “the guarantors” mentioned in the rules. The majority of the committee seemed to suggest that the minority were taking the attitude they did out of a ijfort of perverseness. Did any member ever see guarantors so willing to cling to their guarantees? Most guarantors were glad to be relieved of liability. It was borne in on him that the present guarantors knew, that their liability was .practically nil,-and that their power was unlimited. He himself had been a member of the Club for about twenty years, .arid had been a member of the committee for a good man bet of

years. lie could gay that at no tim© during his term of office was any expenditure on such a scale as now proposed, was decided on without consulting members. If the committee had failed to carry out the annual meeting’s recommendation why did they not call members together and report their failure? He suggesed that the committee were afraid to do so, as they knew that members could very soon find a'scheme which would ( settle the matter. The committee, |he thought, had hung on to power, j and had not trusted the members. ; The Chairman said that on the death |of two of the original guarantors the |Banlc asked for a new bond. Ho had instructed the then secretary to ;write to every one on the old guarantee, except some who had left the district and whose addresses were not even known. So far as he was aware this had been done. Dr. Paget had

j been written to, hut had at first dei dined to have anything to do with |the matter, though subsequently he | said ho would think it over. He was quite unaware that Mr P. Webb haci I not been written to and had express-, led regret to Mr Webb. The Bank was pressing for the completion of the bond, and it was accordingly executed. ;/ A HARD WORKER, Mr W. J. Morrison said that Dr. Paget had been fulminating about pure hearsay. It was hard to deal with the question before the meeting without going .into the matter of improvements. He was fully in accord with the members’ desire to cease the guarantee but at the same time he was sure that the annual meeting fully recognised the necessity for improvements. At .last race meeting owners of motor cars found a nice paddock for their cars, but owners of

c gigs were not so provided for. All j up-to-date chibs recognised the neces- [. jsi tv, for a tea-Iriosk. Therefore the j acquisition' of more land was neces- } sary. Mr Kirkwood had unfortu- ■ i nately mentioned the matter of the . small membership. During his conp nection with the Club (about twenty years) only one man had been turned down by the Club, and ho was a j bookmaker. If the guarantee had j been determined at the annual meeting it would have meant that no imi provements could bo made for the 5 forthcoming race meeting. Contem- > plated improvements had been out- ! lined, but there were other things equally necessary. The course needed an expenditure of at least a hundred pounds,. and there wcrp, also other expensive works should be done,, -.Dr. Paget had suggested that the committee to hang on to power. Personally he had done as- much hard work as anybody. in the Club, and for his pains, fie‘had received than ha’pence. 1 He was not anxious to retain jmwer. Dr. Paget said he did hoi- direct hi? remarks towards Mr Morrison, who did not need to hang to power—ho would be returned at the top of the polfif the ghafaritee wete abolish- 1 ed. ■■ . DEMOCRATIC RULE. \ Mr J. B. Richards said he deprecated the acrimonious nature of some remarks made tfiat night, H,q had no objection to the''personnel of the committee, but the .question before the meeting was fisq to whq should, control the Club’s property. TTas tne property -of the ,Club i; of members of the Club or of the. guarantors? Ho held that the guarantors were merely in the position, of mortgagees, and he did not. think that a mortgagee had a right to control the management of the mortgaged property. The rule of the majority was the wisest scheme of government yet discovered. No doubt the majority would not always bo right, but they would ho more often right than wrong. mien, however, the affairs of the. Club were left in the hands of a minority there was room for abuses to creep in. As to the present guarantors they took no risk at present. It was quite true that they had helped the Club in the early days. Personally he was prepared to give a suitable guarantee for a certain sum and to allow ~ the present committee to control the Club’s affairs and not to ask for representation for himself on the committee. Mr Richards went on to quote certain instances in which recommendations from members had been neglected. For this he did not blame the men on the committee, hut j the constitution. The committee had j suggested certain improvements hub [ had rejected a resolution to call a [general meeting to consider the pro- I j posals. It was the duty of the com- | i mitteo to call such a meeting. He 1 j had heard guarantors and members jj j of the committee say that the Club ! ‘did not want members. The Club had been successful, but the chief reason for that success was the pur- jt chase of the course. He thought there would be no difficulty in get- j| ting the necessary guarantors if the J present guarantee was determined. | He sincerely regretted that the no- | tice of motion had been ruled out. | It was ruled out on a technicality | but as the chairman had admitted I that the rules needed revision the I notice might have been taken. ;;

The Chairman said the Club’s solicitor had given it as his opinion that accepting the motion would ho a very wrong thing. Mr Richards concluded by holding that what the members had conferred tho members had the power to withdraw, and that the guarantors should accept the mandate of tho members in the proper spirit. THE TREASURER SPEAKS. Mr Pitt said that at one time members seemed to wish to do away with the guarantee but'now they seemed to want a new guarantee. lu committee tbe question of a new gnaran-

tee had never been mentioned, and he thought that the minority had not acted fairly in keeping dark their tine new scheme. Nobody expected to gae at the last race' meeting the groat numbers who attended. The appointments could not deal with the crowds'- And were the necessary improvements to stand still owing to a quibble over ceasing one guarantee and putting up another one. Iho <ni a ranters were entitled to nominate five of the seven men on the committee, but they had appointed Mr Malone, who was not a-guarantor, to one of the seats. Mr Pitt quoted figures to indicate that it would be impossible for the Club to fix its finance on a flat mortgage. Personally he was not hanging to office, ana coitld say that he had done as much work as anybody in the Club.

DAME RUMOR. Mr Kirkwood said lie desired to contradict a rumor to the effect tha the reason for the meeting was to run Dr. Paget for president. Lhc rumcr was all over the town, and i might have an effect on the vote to he taken. T)v. Paget had never been

approached on the matter. 5 The Chairman and other members said they had never heard any such

suggestion. Dr. Paget said he had heard of the minor. He would not act with certain members on the committee on any consideration, but .he said so straight out and did not go behind anybody's back. Before the annual meeting v it was suggested by some people that the motions brought down by Mr Frcdric were merely shot prepared by himself (Dr. Paget).

Mr Malone, speaking as a member of the 'committee, said it was absolutely necessary /that the improvements suggested should be carried out before the next race meeting. A LIVELY PASSAGE. Mv A. Stewart said that at previous annual meetings the attendance of members had been small, which seemed to indicate that members were sati-fied with the committee. There was nobody who liked more to run a ■ kClub than Dr. Paget.' 1 Dr. Paget: But I ran it in an open j maimer. I never did anything nn- ! derhand. j Mr Stewart; What did I ever do

uffderhand ? Dr. Paget: I never said you did aiiyfcliiug underhand, but some members of the committee have done so. M i* F. Tyrer said he had heard outside opinions to the effect that the Club’s affairs were admirably managed; The committee desired to have certain improvements made before next race meeting, and members

should- 'be sure that it would he practicable to have them made before itfgitlg the new guarantee. Mr Young, in reply, said the Club s overdraft was at present in as low a '-onditiori as it woidd ever be, and thero-copld hardly be a; better opportunity to set up a new guarantee. It the proposed improvements were undertaken the opportunity would be lost. Practically all the speakers that night had supported the principle of the members managing their own affairs. : ,

The Chairman said that he himself and every member of the Committee would support the ’ motion if he was sure that the finance could be arranged, but ho did not think it could. Mr Kirkwood said he could guarantee that the names of those who had offered to sign the new guarantee would he accepted®by the bank. If thb present bank would not accept tbs names he could find a hank which would.

The Chairman said he thought he could speak for all members of the committee in saying that they would welcome being relieved of their liability. He thought the financial arrangements should be made before the motion was passed. THE MOTION CARRIED. On a show of hands the motion was passed by 2-t votes to 12. Mr Kirkwood then moved that the power of the guarantors to appoint members of .committee should 1)0 abolished. It had been said that the minority on, the committee desired to do- away with the guarantee, but all they desired was to 'do away with the power of the guarantors.

. Mr Young seconded, and the motion was passed without dissent. I)i\ Paget moved that the meeting express thanks to Mr Richards for his services to the Club and ask him to allow himself to ho replaced on the committee.

Mr Richards explained that his place on the committee had been taken by Mr E. G." Robinson, and even if there was a vacancy he would not stand for it if Mr Robinson was willing to act. I'hc motion was dropped.