MEETING OF CITIZENS COMMITTEE

Press, Volume LI, Issue 15335, 20 July 1915, Page 3

MEETING OF CITIZENS COMMITTEE

A further meeting of the committee of citizens net up to consider the fate of Lancaster Park was held in the Chamber of Commerce yesterday, Mr F. Wilding being in the chair. _ Mr Wilding said for five and thirty years Lancaster Park had been the scene of many famous cricket and football matches. In KXH Lancaster Park was .acquired by the Canterbury Cricket Association for £10.-000. It consisted of m acres, and had then some excellent improvements, worth a good deal of money. For a few year» it was worked under the auspices of the Can*torbiirv Cricket Association, and in 1911 tho Canterbury Rugby Union took a half interest in the grounds. They had £1000 in cash, and put it down, with £1000 from the cricketers. The public were appealed to. and great improvements were made; £10,000 was lent by a generous lady at a low rate of interest, and for some years the annual income sufficed to meet all contingencies. Tho speaker denied that somo capitalists had an interest in Lancaster Park; the ground was vested in six tnistccs. and no one had any great pecuniary interest in the park. In the last ten or twelve- years the park had been the property of the Cricket and Rugby Football Associations, and the directors and secretary were giving their services without any remuneration. Tho present position was that thero was a total of £11,700 liabilities: £2000 had to be found in a very short time, and there was a total of pressing liabilities amountinc to £3700. Sine© the war the revenue had gone, and there would be little likelihood of its recovering until peace was restored. Thc directors could only say to the public: "W© have done our best, and imkao the public conies to the rescue , we can only sell our interests, and, ! like honourable men, pay our debts."' i Another misconception was that Lancaster Park was the playground for' the rich only; he believed that fourfifths of the users of the ground were wage-earner.-.. He suggested that the committee should as.-ertain as soon as it could whether the public was going to leave the paik to its fate. He did not advocate an appeal to willing givcis, who were possibly not very wed supplied with tin's world's goods, but would rather rely on the generosity of the wealthy men of Canterbury, and of cricketers and footballers, who were also well off. They should recoenise that once Lancaster Park wa« allowed to go. it was gone for ever, and its loss would he irreparable to the present and future .generations. Tn this great crisis England had appealed to her sportsmen, and she had not appealed in vain, and the citizens of Christchurch should remember with pride that nt least a portion of the men who had done such great deeds, had been trained on Lancaster Park. He felt that no better memorial could be set up to the memory of the fallen heroes of Canterbury* than to secure Lancaster Park for all time. Mr J. S. Barrett morved that, tbe meeting pledce itself to do all in its power to assist the Board of Directors in getting all the financial help from tho public possible by means of a canvass, and that a report be made to a subsequent me»tiiisr on August 17th. Mr A. E. G. Rhodes seconded the motion. Mr McLaclilan. representing the Association football players, said that probably the chairman would be surprised to learn that an even greatorproportion of Association players had cone to the front than Rupby players. Yet ho felt that the Association olavors had not been treated **t all fairly by the Rugby people, and the Board of Control in the "past. He would like to know the present attitude of the Board and Rugby neonlo ,_to 'nut before the Council of his Association, which met that night. Tho chairman said henceforth Lan- ! caster P-*rk would he open to Association football and to hockey, in fact, to all amateur sport. He recognised that in the oast a rather narrow view had been taken, but that would be altered in the future. The meeting endorsed this view, and Mr Barrett's motion being put, it was carried unanimously.