WELLINGTON WINTER SHOW

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 288, 31 August 1929, Page 13

WELLINGTON WINTER SHOW

PROFIT NOT LESS THAN £6OOO “PROSPECTS ARE EXCEEDINGLY BRIGHT” “The outlook for the returns of the show is pleasing, and with the probability of a second, bigger and better function the prospects are exceedingly bright,” said the chairman of the Wellington Show Association (Mr. C. J. B. Norwood) nt the meeting last night. “The fact that the single function has met all the expenses of the year is very satisfactory. When it is remembered that we had only two fine days, it gives some indication of what would have been had we had three full weeks of fine weather. The returns are really wonderful.” Mr. Norwood stated that they were not yet in a position to create the summer function satisfactorily, but that the work was progressing assiduously. Regarding the top grounds, he said ttyit there was still a very large expenditure necessary for fencing, surfacing, and other matters. The revenue account for the period between November 1, 1928, and August 23, 1929, showed that the total receipts were £11,770 3s. 8(1., as against £11,519 12s. 3d. last year, the credit balance being £6465 3s. Bd., as against £6621 13s. 4d. last year, a drop of £156 9s. 4d. The main items were as follows, shillings and pence not counted. The figures for 1928 are given in parentheses:— Receipts: Admission, £4050 (£4599); space letting, £4469 (£3589); members’ subscriptions, £675 (£1307) : rents. £560 ( —); Amusements Ltd., £162 (£142); and entry fees, £129 (£62). Expenditure: Salaries and wages, £1325 (£1215); prize money, £376 (£250); the stack show (feed, etc.), £3Bl (£290) ; lighting, £248 (£270); advertising, £476 (£450): general expenses of stands, £404 (£447): insurance, £136 (£305); repairs and maintenance, £3l (£114); contingencies, less than £2OO. Tearoom takings amounted to ilObt (£958), while the expenses were ilOlb < £96 °>- General Manager’s Report.

The report of the general manager (Mr. G. Mitchell) stated that although the wages showed an increase over last yea , those spent on the show were actually less, the balance being made up of labour employed throughout the year, which would be a charge against the receipts from rentals. The 51 per cent, of extra stock in the show accounted for the increased expenditure of ai1(1 thus making the feed, transport and the attention much greater. The cost per head, however, was below that ot last vear. Insurances would by the end or the year be raised £9o—a permanent charge. The general expenses, winch included the stands, were greater on account of the rush and the new permanent stands £220) had been charged against capital, for the present, though a charge would have to be made against the show for their use. . The drop of £549 in the gate takings is attributed to the inclemency of the weather, but it was counteracted by the £BBO extra received for space rents. Last year £756 was received from life membership subscriptions, and this explained the £63Ji fall in the membership subscriptions.

The rents and tennis money were new items on the receipt side of the accounts, being given as £617, while Mr. Mitchell stated that there was more than £2OO still to come in before the end of the year. From this sum an adjustment would have to be made with the City Council, and a further amount must be paid into the general reserve. Entry fees showed an increase of more than 100 per cent., while the receipts froni tlie schedules and catalogues were also doubled, though £638 received as interest upon investments in 1928 was not again available.

“Profits.” “One cannot, at this juncture, be accurate in prophesying the credit balance that will be available at the end of the year, out of which interest must be paid.” declared Mr. Mitchell, “but it will not be less than £6000.” Top Ground. ‘The expenditure on the top ground to date is £1394 6s. lid., and the lo.west tender was £2200,” . said the report. ‘This tender embraced only the excavation of the bluff, and about one-quarter of the flat area. Mos't of this work'outside the contract has been completed, and the excavation of the bluff is well advanced. We would be able to complete the whole of the excavations embraced in the contract, together with the levelling above referred to outside the contact within the limits of the lowest tender. As the work outside the contract was estimated to cost from £4OO to £5OO, it will be seen that that saving will accrue by doing the work ourselves, besides which we have been able to build the outer bank during the progress of the work. It well, however, be necessary for the committee to jt once consider ways and means of completing this ground, which I am siure will be the means of very substantially increasing our revenue over the expenditure entailed. A rough estimate of the work essential to bring the ground into use is as follows:—Completion of excavation of south end, £900; providing snv 10.000 seats, £2000: fencing outer edge of track 3ft. high. £200; and housing, £1000; completing track formation. levelling, and sowing grass. £300; dressing sheds, water supplies, and urinals. £1000; surfacing track, asphalt or bitumen. £500; lighting. £500; eqtlipment and contingencies. £600; total, £7OOO. “A further expenditure to provide another 6000 seats could be considered at .a later date. In the meantime the mam object is to get the area revenue pro‘Au'angements have been made for the

spoil from the western approach and the western end of the tunnel to go into the tip. which will complete the filling. Tins filling is now proceeding at a very rapid rate, and unless our own excavations are continued to completion we may find ourselves without a dump for the material.