MORE PLAYING AREAS

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 964, 6 May 1930, Page 14

MORE PLAYING AREAS

ONEHUNGA RESERVE IN USE COUNCIL’S GOOD WORK The Mayor of Onehunga, Mr. E. Morton, informed the Borough Council last evening that the council’s recreation reserve presented an animated scene on Saturday afternoon when several hundred people were present watching the various games being played. These included three Rugby football matches, two hockey matches and one Association football contest. Four additional playing fields were available on the area of 30 acres which would all be occupied during the season, when some 300 players would take part. The chairman of the Reserves Committee, Cr. A. C. Tonkin, and himself had supervised the work of rolling the surface and cutting the grass and he predicted that in a few weeks, as further improvements were carried out, the Onehunga reserve would equal any of the playing fields of the metropolis. BUS SERVICE The Transport Board, he said, had issued a provisional permit to the Te Papapa Omnibus Company to carry passengers on Saturday afternoons during the winter months, between the Onehunga post office and the reserve, and although the patronage accorded the buses last Saturday did not come up to expectations he was confident -of better results later on, when a permanent permit would be applied for. In this connection, the Auckland Hockey Association wrote to the council expressing its appreciation of the excellent work being done by the council in improving the reserve, thereby considerably alleviating the inconvenience caused by the shortage of sports grounds in and around the city. This large influx of football and • hockey players has emphasised tho necessity for the erection of further dressing accommodation and it is understood that adequate facilities in this direction will be provided by the council conditionally on the interested sports bodies bearing a proportion of the expense.

With this object, the Onehunga Sports Federation is arranging with the Rugby Union, the Hockey and Football Associations for special matches on a day to be fixed, when a gate charge will be made for further improvements to this playing area.