TE AROHA JOCKEY CLUB.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 215, 11 September 1931, Page 12

TE AROHA JOCKEY CLUB.

THE ANNUAL MEETING

IMPROVEMENT TO COURSE. There was s large and representative j attendance of members at the annual, meeting of the Te Aroha Jockey Club. ' The president, Mr. R. L. Somer*, in moving the adoption of the report and | ■balance-sheet, referred to the loss sue- ] tained by the death of Mr. C. O'Connor, i who had been starter for the club suite j its early days, and that cf Dr. Dempster, one of their honorary surgeons. Tie large ' attendance at the meetiDs spoke well ioi the popularity of the club, alth-ough there was a decrease of ~ 12,000 in the totalisato-r turnover, this "ivas much less -than registered by most of the New Zealand racing institutions. They had always endeavoured to keep up the amount of stakes, and this was one of the. reasons of the club's popularity. Good prize money meant a better class of competitors, and this was evident by .the high grade of horses •competing at tie last meeting. Personally, he was not a pessimist, and did not like the idea o-f reducing stakes unless absolutely necessary. They should take a lesson from the' policy adopted by other clubs, who haJ. considerably reduced their states, onlyt.o find a poorer ■class of horses competing and reduced income. He did not approve of a cheeseparing policy. For the future a great deal depended upon the clubs themselves, for if the prize money was unduly cut down no decent class horses would be found competing. The club was popular with the racing public and at every meeting there were expressions of approval at the treatment accorded I-α visitors. Last ye3r the new course had been completed at a total cost of £4324, -which he considered monev well spent, -while the work reflected credit on Mr. W. J. Gibbs, engineer. They were probably aware of the financial straits of many New Zealand clubs, but unfortunately tiere was very little chance of the Government being able to grant a reduction in taxation when the fact of the country's finances was taken into consideration. He wished to thank the committee and officials who had worked so hard in the iaterests of the club. The following officers were elected for the ensuing year:—Patron, Hon. J. G. Coates; president, Mr. R. L. So-niers; vicepresidents, Messrs. P. Baine, R. Burke and J.* B. Johnson; committee, Messrs. E. Aislabie, G. P. Goodfellow, T. A. Hines, also F. I. Hunt, F. T. Rowe, G. McGlashen (re-elected), J. Kenny; hon. treasurer, Mr. J. P. Somers. On the motion of Mr. E. BuTke, seconded by Mr. J. B. Johnson, a hearty vote of thanks was accorded Sir. J. P.Somers, who had been acting-secretary since Mr. Cotton left the district.