“GOING DOWNHILL”

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 254, 23 July 1929, Page 12

“GOING DOWNHILL”

CRICKET ASSOCIATION’? FINANCES REDUCTION IN BASIN RESERVE CHARGES SOUGHT A deputation from the Wellington Cricket Association waited on the Reserves Committee yesterday with the request that the council’s charges for the use of the Basin Reserve should be reduced. Mr. P. B. Broad (the chairman of the association) complained of a succession of bad seasons, and said that the present outlook was such that they had to ask for a reduction in the charges. And they did so on sound grounds. The asociation was the council’s oldest and best customer. They had some ten years ago spent £lOO on forms, of which the council had the continued use, and eight years ago they had imported soil from Dunedin and Napier, not only for the Basin Reserve pitches but for those of other grounds. They would not have come cap in hand, but the outlook was desperate, and the reason for it was that the charges for the Basin Reserve were too high. For a matter of eight years the association had paid the council an average of £643 annually, which was an exceedingly heavy charge for any one body to pay for one ground. Whilst the ground had been used by the Soccer Association, the Hockey Association, and the Amateur Athletic Association, the Wellington Cricket Association had paid 66 per cent, of the total receipts for the ground, which was an exceedingly heavy toll on one athletic body. The charges, he explained, were 20 per cent gross of the gate receipts, and 50 per cent of the takings of the grandstand. Of the eight years mentioned the association had only shown a profit in two years, and their reserve had dwindled from £1273 to £845. Continuing, Mr. Broad urged that the council should meet them by reducing the charges, and suggested that the charges should be made 15 per cent of the gross all round, or 20 per cent and the council pay all wages. By adopting the suggestion Mr. Broad said that the association would be relieved to the extent of 5 per cent, but the council would not lose, as the association could put on extra games that would make up any deficiency. Councillor M. F. Luckie considered the request a reasonable one. The association could not go on for ever facing an annual loss. Councillor Semple: A very modest request The chairman (Councillor B. G. H. Burn) said that the views of the deputation would be very carefully considered. . 1