RECREATION SPORTS GROUND.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 81899, 5 December 1906, Page 2

RECREATION SPORTS GROUND.

COMMITTEE'S FIRST REPORT. The first annual meeting of the Rccreaton Spoils Ground Committee ami subscribers as lo be held this evening. The annual report congratulates members on the splendid results obtai. Ed during the year, and proceeds: In presenting the hist report and balance-sheet, I must congratulate the members of this committee on the sp.eudid results obtained during the year. After meeting tue Recreation Ground's Board on severa. occasions, satisfactory terms were arrived at,

and a .fuse of me spin is ground wa6 taken by this committee lor a period ol 14 years. A scheme for thu improvement of ti>e grouud was drawn up and put into the hands of Messrs Sladden and Palmer, who prepaied plans and estimated the lota: cost at something like ,£I3OO. The ways and means of raising the necfosaiy capital were then gone into, and, tualiks to the magnificent support received from the public and Hie great assistance rendered by tue two local bands, a sum of about Xj'sso lias so lai been raised by enteitaiiinienis and dona 10ns. Through the agency 1 1 tue Taranaki Rugby Union and the a.sistance of twenty of the leading gentlemen of New P.ymouth, wiio generously agreed 10 act as guarantors, we were able to secure a loan of j&oo from the Now Zealand Kugby Union at the low rate of 2J per cent. With the present cash in baud and the profits anticipated from tire art union and bazaar which eventuates at Christmas-time, f hope that sufficient iunds wi.l have been raised to carry out the scheme in its entirety. Work was commenced on the 15U1 01 October by day labour, and the progress to date 'seems to point to the lact that it was a judicious move 011 ilia part of die committee m declining tenders and taking tue responsibility upon themselves. it is anticipated that the giound will be sown down dunng i'ebiuaiy, and, giv-u a favourab e season, it is fu.ly expected that early 111 the following summer the ground wi.l be fit for sports ot

any description, ft is not the intention to sacrifice the beauty of the ground fw spurt, but to combine the two, and so make the Jaost picturesque athletic ground in the colony, and one tnat the New P.ymouth people will eventually be proud of. It

1 was decided to issue lion, membeis : tickets to anyone subscribing' £lO or over. Tills ticket entities the ho.dei to all privileges of the ground for a period of seven years. Already ten loca: gentlemen have' become entitled u tiiis privilege. Reference to the balance-sheet will show the present financial stale of the improvement fund. The ba.ance ir. tlw bank is ,£6ll o/y, while the assets exceed the liabilities by .£706 15/5. There are still uncollected donations amounting to £157, but these. 1 fee. confident', can be' collected when re quired, which' wi 1 probably be within the next six weeks. The tota: of receipts from al sources since the iiicepiion of the committee is £ijSs 14/11, thu expenditure (including ,6159 ifi' : 2 under entertainment ami gioiinds) was ,£374 14/2, leaving a ciedit of ,£6ji o/y. A good d-a. ol the success is undoubtedly due to the enthusiastic maiinor in which the ladit'.'. have taken up this mailer, without whose assistance it wou d be almost impossible to raise the necessity funds to carry out the scheme. Great asi'lstanco has also been obtained from the Press. Possibly llicre never has been anything in' Nt\V Plymouth which lias received the same publicity for such trifling cost as has the scheme for the improvement of the Recreation Sports Greund..

The chairman's (Mr A. Humphries) report' concludes by comp inieiiling- the secretary and treasurer 011 die energetic maimer in which their work, which is now particularly onerous, has been carried out,