ONLOOKER'S VIEWPOINT.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 248, 19 October 1928, Page 17

ONLOOKER'S VIEWPOINT.

CRICKET "GATE" INCREASE.

Concerning the decision to raise tbe price for admission to club cricket matches, R. A. Morgan writes: —"l beg to raise my voice in reference to a matter which I believe to be a rank injustice to those who, Saturday after Saturday, in spite of displays of stodgy cricket, have visited Eden Park. I refer to the increased entrance fee of 1/ instead of 6d. It appears that we are being penalised because the game is not being run on lines efficient enough to draw the other fellow. It has been argued that those who attend Saturday after Saturday will pay the 1/, and thus the gate will be swelled to twice the sise: such judgment appears to be reminiscent of that which sought to increase the tram revenue by curtailing the motor transport. No, sir, a good business man does not experiment with the customers he already has, but seeks to increase thereon by adopting suitable methods. The point is, will we permit ourselves to be outraged or will we say there are other fields— to them let us go. The times are such, sir, that we cannot afford this extra 50 per cent, and it would seem that such an alteration at a time like this is suggestive of the fact that those who have doiie so much for cricket have outlived their usefulness. Finally, to add that the 1/ includes admittance to the main stand only makes matters worse, and shows still further that judgment was erratic, as the view obtained from that position, if one wished to watch the No. 2 game, would be very little better than standing outside the gate at Kingsland."