HOCKEY GROUND LET.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 78, 2 April 1928, Page 15

HOCKEY GROUND LET.

GIRL ATHLETES SUCCEED. TENDERS AIL TOO LOW. AGREEMENT WITH BOARD. BUSINESS .MEN AS GUARANTORS. An agreement by which the Dilworth Trust Board will hand over on November 1 next over 15 acres of the Remuera recreation grounds to the Auckland Girls' Athletic Association for a period of five years at the rental of £240 per annum, with the right of ■ renewal for a further term of five years at the rate of £300. a year, was signed on Saturday by three Auckland business men as guarantors for the association. Archdeacon Mac Murray, chairman of the board, stated on Saturday that the four tenders - had been considered by the board, but it was agreed that the rents offered were, so greatly below the value of the benefits which the ground would give to the lessees that; it would not aocept any of them. The highest tender, however, came from the Girls' Athletic Association, and the board felt that it was bound to negotiate with the highest tenderer. The new proposition had been put to the association and accepted. Under it the lessee was to pay all expenses, except the land tax, which would fall upon the owner. The board retained the right to veto any game or amusement that it deemed desirable. The lessees had the right to open the ground for recreation on Sundays from 2 p.m. until 6 p.m., but nothing was to be done on the ground on a Sunday to attract a - crowd. It waa stipulated that the association should find guarantors for its financial liabilities. .

Enterprising Girls. The president of the Girls' Athletic Association, Miss Jean Begg, interviewed, said that the association had been able to secure the ground only through its guarantors. The association had come into being two years ago as the result of the demand for such an organisation from those girls who were not catered for by the Auckland Girls' InterHouse Sports Association. Besides the girls from various business houses the Athletic Association comprised the Y.W.CA., the Auckland Ladies' Hockey Association, the Auckland Basketball Association and many similar bodies. All these organisations had been limited ,in their activities in providing recreation for girls on Saturday after-, noons and holidays for want of suitable playing areas. The Ladies' Hockey Association had had to play theirmatches in the early hours of Saturday afternoons under great dilhculties and the Basketball Association had had to limit its matches to half an hour. Miss Begg considered that, good sport did not mean merely match-playing. The girls had first to earn the right to be in teams. This could only be done by practising with members of their own club. In the past there had not been grounds available for this. .

The association had from the very first recognised the need for grounds and asked for them but without response. They had now taken the initiative and given Auckland a ground where its girlhood could play the gaittc for the game's sake. Miss Begg said that for a atart it was intended to play in the sutnmer tennis, cricket and baseball, and in the winter hockey and basketball. Miss Begg said that the association believed in the spirit of the play for its own sake, and worked', for the promotion of physical activity for the largest possible proportion of persons in any given group, in forms suitable to individual needs and capacities, under leadership and conditions that fostered health, physical efficiency and.the development of good citizenship. The association aimed at team work and the protection of athletics from exploitation for the enjoyment of the spectator. Hockey Association'* Position.

When interviewed on Saturday an official of the Auckland Hockey Association, the present lessees of the ground, said the association sincerely hoped to be able to make arrangements with the Girls' Athletic Association to secure part of the grounds for use in the winter. If they were not successful in coming to an agreement they would have to apply to the City Council .for grounds at Victoria Park and the Domain. The association had been paying an annual rental of £178 for the Remuera grounds and'had yearly spent large sums on improvements. As the lease did not expire until October 31, the association would be able to continue its matches at Remuera during the forthcoming season. He further stated that the Hockey Association considered that when the board did not accept any of the tenders on the terms on which they were called the board should have allowed all the tenderers to have submitted fresh offers on the new terms.