THE LANCASTER PARK COMPANY.

Press, Volume XLIII, Issue 6492, 14 July 1886, Page 2

THE LANCASTER PARK COMPANY.

The sixth annual general meeting of the' « shareholders in tbe Canterbury Cricket ■' and Athletic Bpor.s Ground Company was held at the offioe of the Secretary, Mr A M, Ollivier; on Wednesday. Thete were tea shareholders present, and Mr A. C. Wilson (in the absence of the Chairman of Directors, the Hon. E. C. J. Stevens) presided. The annual report and balance-sheet ' were submitted, rhe result of the operations for the year, as shown by the piofifc. and loss account, was a debit balance of' .£305 16s Bd, which includes a sum of £19t *' 13s 2d brought forward from lest year. The report went on to state that owing to ; no foreign matches being played on the : . Lancaster Park during the year, the anticipated revenne from crickets was entirely lost. A Trotting Club was inaugurated by the Directors, wnich held its first meeting . . onMay2wcb. fAfterabrief discossion the report"and, balance-sheet were adopted. Messrs F. Jones and A. Morion OUivfer,> were re-elected Lireetors. .1 The CHJJtBMAW spoke in high terms cf praise of tbe valuable services rendered itt ; the past by the Hon. Secretary, Mr ; Ollivier, and a cordial vote of thanks, os * the motion of Mr Is&bd, seconded by Mr . Massing, was also passed to him. A' vote of thanks was also passed to the Auditor, Mr E C. Bishop. The Chairman'd statement was read as follows:— St" The anticipations with which we entered upon ,X tha establishment of this Company iv 1881 bare . not been realized, in consequence of the actst , attendance of the publio at cricket matches of th* highest class. In yeara prior to 1881, when no charge for admission was made compulsery oa ,- those attending; the matches, many thousand* * ~ daily patronised the game. We had hoped that tbe Lancaster Park Ground wonld have been selfsupporting from the outset, that tho revenne derived from the gates and from other Bourocs would - have sufficed to pay tbe expenses of maintaining < the grounds is order, tho buildings in repair, lo addition to providing an annual sum for depreciation, and a fair return to shareholders on the capital v embarked in the undertaking. The result, after , Aye years' experience, is a direct loss daring that period of £305 16s Bd. Under these circumstance* many shareholders expressed dissatisfaction, ana desired that some new source ot revenue should besought for, with the result that, at a tpeflj** r feneral meeting held on 29th January, tho •irectors were instructed to establish a Trotting Club. This has been done, and the experimental meeting held has demonstrated the suitability« tho Park grounds for the purposes of that Cms. _ Iv the event of tbe new Club electing to oontinn* < to hold their meetings on tho Lancaster Fart ■ course, it will be the duty of your Directors. ,* to arrange Borne agreement, fair and mutualU ,/q advantageous to the Interests concern*}? ,1 Urgently required drainage works for carryinjr oS , surface water from land adjacent to that owned h' / the Company, and also for improving the conditio f' otthe cinder track are now fii progress, a, com* J > parison of the accounts submitted with those <« „ t the preceding year, show* that tbo revenue**" ' rived from football matches haa increased to too extent of £92, and that from eportahsa risen i BflJ* • ' £11. while no return whatever appeared under wf ~ bead of cricket, as against a profit of £19 roosWJ -~ during the year ending May, 188 i. Thoro has WBBno increase in the rent received from the I**; oaster Park Cricket Club during tha»■ JgJ* season, a* it was found tbat the Clno were quite unable to pay a larger amounti **» -.'* no other Club applied for the use of *** gronnd. xaoiwttw to been taken ta the aesftfi^

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