Nambassa gate $200,000?

Press, 12 February 1979, Page 13

Nambassa gate $200,000?

PA Wellington It appears that the Nambassa Educational Trust will make up to $200,000 profit — before donations are deducted — from the three-day Nambassa Music, Crafts, and Alternative Lifestyles Festival. The festival organiser, Mr P. Terry, says that profits would be between $lOO,OOO and $200,000, although the exact figure would not be determined until final accounting and auditing was completed within the next few weeks. During the festival, which began On January 27. there were a rash of wild “guesstimates” as to the numbers attending and the amount of money taken. Mr Terry said that with

non-paying children and the estimated 10.000 who sneaked through when the Ministry of Transport opened the gate, about 44,000 attended the festival. Mr Terry estimates that about $460,000 was taken from the gate, but this was of f-s e t by “astronomical expenses.” Originally budgeting for costs of about $210,000, the organisers found themselves paying out for much more than they planned for.

For instance, they did not expect water to run out during the festival, and the resultant expense of transporting 18,000 gallons of water daily to the site from Waihi was about $12,000. Extra land hire costs added up to about $20,000. As the trust is a

charitable one, 20 per rent of its profits will also go in donations.

Other major expenses included about $20,000 payment to Australia's Little River Band and about $BOOO in airfares and transport from Britain for Split Enz — although they played for free.

Mr Terry said the New Zealand bands playing were paid between $3BO and $6OO. depending on their popularity.

The Nambassa Educational Trust, presided over by five trustees including Mr Terry, is part of the Nambassa Community which hopes to buy land and establish an alternative lifestyle community on land in Waikino, near Waihi. Although trust monies cannot be used to buy the

land, they will be used tn pay for reading, building a school house and the provision of other equipment.

About 45 to 50 families will make up the. community and they will buy property on a share basis. The present community of about 30 families holds such values as conservation, humanitarianism. and spiritual tolerance Mr Terry said the festival organisers were pleased with the way the police acted on the site, although they were angry a,t the Ministry of Transport, which opened the gate for about four hours without their permission, to clear the traffic backlog. Those people entered without paying.