BIG ART UNIONS.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18970, 7 April 1927, Page 9

BIG ART UNIONS.

LATER RAFFLES NOT SO PROFITABLE. [THE PBES3 Special Service.] AUCKLAND, April 6. Big art unions, which have been part and parcel of the national life for the past ei een months, have gone back into v void from whence they came. The most successful of all the art unions so far held in New Zealand was the Grand National, which produced a net profit of £22,000 for the Oaraaru Racing and Trotting Clubs. This art union, together with others that were held earlier are stated to have exceeded all the expectations of those who sponsored them. The same cannot be said of those launched during "the tail end" of the art union season. The Golden Climax made less than £IOO for its backers, and the last of the big raffles, the "Now or Never, which was drawn on Monday evening, is expected to bring only roughlyr£ooo for the Tauranga Regatta Club. These people, however, may be considered fortunate, for in recent weeks some of the smaller art unions have fared badly, some of them even failing to pay the expenses of organisation. One sports body in the province is actually reported to be £3600 out of pocket. It is clearly evident that the bottom has been knocked out of the big art union market. Apart from the result of the Government's prohibition, which possibly had a psychological effect on the public, it is obvious that the prevailing financial stringency has left its mark more plainly on the art union than on any other form of investment.