POPULATION OUTSTRIPS PLAYING FIELDS

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 267, 1 February 1928, Page 8

POPULATION OUTSTRIPS PLAYING FIELDS

POSITION AT ONEHUNGA NEW AREA TO BE USED A deputation representative of the principal sports bodies in Auckland waited upon the Onehunga Borough i Council on Monday last when the council was in committee to urge the desirability of putting the Waikaraka recreation reserve of 30 acres into a better condition for football, cricket, I hockey and athletics. The deputation ! consisted of Messrs. H. Frost, chairj man of the Auckland Rugby Union, W. Morton, president of the N.Z.A.A.A., H. Playle, president of the Auckland | Hockey Association, J. E. Green, president of the Manukau Rovers’ Football | j Club, and representatives of the local : cricket, Association football and yachting clubs. Messrs. Green, Morten, Frost and Playle said that the rapid progress of population had outstripped the playjng ! areas in and around the city, and the j position had now become so acute that ! the governing sports bodies were being compelled to refuse affiliation to new clubs owing to the scarcity of grounds. llt was therefore suggested that the j Onehunga council should earmark ail grazing fees for improving the Wai- | kuraka reserve; place <£2oo or £3OO on j next year’s estimates, and apply a perj rentage of the receipts from the Mount j Smart scoria pit toward the same object. After hearing the deputation, the I council recommended that it will be j prepared to entertain a lease for the maximum of three years at a moderate I rental, provided that the scheme of j the JSports Federation is approved by the council.