THE SPORTS GROUND.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 268, 22 April 1915, Page 8

THE SPORTS GROUND.

—, SPORTSMEN TO RETAIN CONTROL. A meeting of the Sports Ground Committee was held last night. Mr. A. L. Humphries presided. The chairman said the object of the meeting wa3 to place the position of the committee before the local sporting bodies. He said that the most important feature of the position was that zh<j committee was weak financially. The committee had been unable to pay the Pukekura Park Board for three years, and naturally the board wanted to know where their money was coming frcjn. The committge owed the Park Board £BS for rent, and owed the Rugby Union £125, while other debts amounted to £BS 5s Id, majkin? a total liability of £297 5s Id. It would be a pity, he thought, to hare to hand the ground back to the Park Board now that so -much had been done. Altogether the committee had spent £2500 on the ground, and now that, for various reasons, the present committer was unable to continue in charge of the ground, it was a question as to whether a new committee could be formed to carry on the work, or whether the ground should be handed back to the Park Board. Mr. J. Clarke said that one of the principal causes which put the Ground Committee in this position was the popularising of the beaches, while the splitting of the. half holiday also assisted to take away revenue. Mr. Clarke referred to the work which the present committee had done, and said he thought that younger men who were more in touch with sport than tho memberl" of the present committee should come forward and form a new committee. It rested with the men who were using the ground to come forward, or else the ground would have to go back to the Park Board. He. was soiry to see that, while cricket was well represented at the. meeting, other sports were not so well represented; football clubs, fe- instance, were not represented at all. In answer (o a question the chairman said he thought that if tho git-and was handed back to the Park Board it would be well looked after. Mr. F. T. Bellringer said he hoped there would be no question of handing the ground back to the iPark Board. The Park Board did very good work, but he felt that the sports ground should remain under the control of a committee representing sports. He heard that there was a proposal to hold a carnival and if this was done, and the profits were divided between the Belgian Fund and the sports ground, he felt sure very good support would be received, and sufficient money would be obtained to wipe off the debt. Some discussion followed on the question of holding a carnival. Tt was stated that it was proposed to hold a carnival for six <yiys at New Plymouth at Christmas, and the idea was that each day should he at a different placa in the town, so that there would be no clashing in the programme.

Mr. G. B. Purdue said that as far a& cricket was ccrsoterned the ground was hot an ideal one for the game. The football season lasted too long for cricketers to procure a good wicket tile ground when they required it. The Rev. S. S. Osborne said the question was: Were ; these men who had done so much for the ground to be left in the lurch? He considered it would be a disgrace to the spo-tsmen of Ne.w Plymouth if the present committee was not supported. He thought the ground would be better under an active, sports committee than under tho control of the Park Board. Cricketers did not want to see the committee losing any money, mid he did not wish to see the control of the ground lost. The committee should be put in a strong position financially, so that it could pay off its debt and then improve the ground. In regard to the complaint that the ground was not given up to cricketers sufficiently early by footballers, hi- thought it would be better if the ground was given up by footballers in August.

Mr. ISollringer said that personally he Wiuld like to see football finished in August, but the position was that representative inathes only commenced in .August, and the Tara'naki Rugby Union could not afford to say to southern unions that if they did not come here hy August they must stay away. The union must have these representativ:' matches. Mr. Bellringer then moved that a new committee should be formed, and the different sporting bodies be asked to elect representatives to serve thereon.

'Mr. .T. McLeod, in seconding the motion, paid the Taranaki Rugby Union did not control the football season. The nd of September was fixed as the 'lose of the season for all New Zealand. He was quite sure that if a united effort was made by the sporting bodies ample funds could be obtained. He did not think £IOOO was an unlikely amount that could be raised, and then the debt could be wiped off, and there would be funds for improvements. It would be advisable to shave the profits with the Belgian und.

The motion that a new committee be formed was then carried unanimously.