WELLINGTON RACING CLUB

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 78, 28 September 1918, Page 10

WELLINGTON RACING CLUB

JNTEBESTDftj REVIEW BY-THE :•■■■]■;';.-' -^PRESIDENT:. ■: ir^vV-^

!: REDUCED REVENUE, i BUT' IN-: ■ ■ '.v ;; j ; \ .CREASED",STAKES; 1":;;;^:^v The annual' general: meeting /of .the' Wellington Sacing Club was held Yin tho clubrpoms, Woodward-street, yesterday; afternoon, the; chair being, occupied' by; the President, M*. J/B. Harcourt.Thero .was, a: good' atfcendatnce of members of the club. ■'..' V'.'/c.','•'-'..v-v.' vt\-.;'-■;-V..'' l'.\; The; moving jthe adoption\ of the report and balance-sheet, which have already been published in Tho Post/ the President said that owing to the reduction in the days ,of racing,, the, returns, must of a necessity show a ' considerable falling off compared with last year*, .but ,nevertheless the (club's 'financial position was improved, and'the result of the year' is a credit balance: of £3726 ,19s 9d ascompared witht£s26l 7sld.ih ;19i7. in comparing the balance-sheet of 1918 .with 1917, it' would' be.:noticed that' sundry creditors wer© only 1 £61 Is' as against£63o; 6s 9d. Oh tho asset side the>buildings and property; were reduced .by £503 10s, and sundry' debtors and morfr gages stood at £8133 7s 3d, ; an ■ increase of £5947 10s lid. The. bank balance was reduced from £3060 16s 7d .to; £750 ;9s Bd.-,*...-,': - '...; .;;. .;:- t ■: ;;■■ ■ ■.»■■ .;■■;"; ;•:; '■•■•"■'.■;•:

,_ In: the revenue.:. account-< there .jivero heavy, reductions in expenditure under: nearly, all i headings.: The stakes >;paid were £17,151 against £28,170. Government taxatipn was £13,630 last year it: was £20,047 Is 10d.; The cftdit balance is £3726 19s 9d. ■ Last year it was £5261 7s Id, of £1534 7s 4d. The : receipts alsov showed large reductions. The totalisator* income was ; £33,032.16s lOd compared with £48,447 10s lOd, or a reduction,of£lsi4l4 14s. Gate money was .'£3317:145: Hd as; com--■P-jJKwj; with £5226 Us Ai, a reduction-of £1908 16s. sd, but thig was largely owing to no charge -being made for admission to the since railway 'accommodation had been cut off. Nominations and 'acceptances .were less'by £2416. "Privileges race-books, etc., £996 lls Id as compared ■, with, £1499 10s—a reduction of £502 19s 7d.; \ In 1917 £2973 2s was received from last year no'receipts were showni The general re-^ suit was that the total receipts for 1918 were. £43,718 ..19g.t7d- as compared with £66,442.16s lOd-a reduction of £22,723 17s 3d. „. '.u-y-.x\ -■■■■'•.■■ .■■,'..'.••. ■ -\ ■-: wasmade ifa thei report' to the lack of accommodation at the course.^ ■Old members'would remember (said Mr. Haroourt) that when it;moved to Trentnam the club was absolutely-.without funds, the whole scheme was. "financed on guarantees, and the -^buildings: that-the club .was ableto' erect, r while they .were large enough at the time, had long-since out-grown: their'usefulness. The-.'*club had s a; -very heavy' . debt; ; to wine off, and/; the general ■■■■ policy: of?; the [stewards had.been,-first, to wipe off this debt, and, secotict to conserve the funds go that the club might be in a position to give the public reasonable accommodation. The stands were obsolete, and were : rapidly, wearing but. Beyond keeping them safe" so far as human .life was concerned, no. money (had been spent on them,, and they had hot_ been painted sincefthey were, erected in 1906. That point was emphasised, as an erroneous opinion seemed to be abroad that racing clubs existed for profit-making. This, of course, was not so. 'The whole of: the revenue of the club was;retufhed't6 v the-public, either by way:of stakes or;in providing suitable accommodation.' TheVsurplus, that the club had in hand for the latter purpose had been acfcumulated pftrely and simply at the expense of the hbrsebwn;er. It was a metropolitan, club, arid it had metropolitan responsibilities, '■ but it did not yet give ; metropolitan ' stakes, stakes which-Tibrse.,owners had a right to expect, and which the sporting-public appeared to be perfectly willing to provide. , The property at Trenthani haS now become a very valuable asset, and while it was nominally the property of the Wellington Racing Club, in effect ft really belonged ta the Wellington. general -public,:. The' race {rack ■ itself was now admitted tqf be one. of the finest in Australasia. In addition, there, were for training purposes .a sand gallop, a tail gallop, and six grass gallops' each 20ft 'wide, and the various other facifities Were gradually: being made as 'perfect as possible. The sum of £57,935 14s lid; had been paid ;in taxation Since'-.thewar started. This was equal to £1400 iper month for each month the war'had been ■mi progress. /This sum had^been provided! by the' racing public .only.::.'; -No' 'sports body in they country pother'than .racing was .paying, taxationi .;of ; any I moment whatever, and it was^a pleasure to record £he cheerfulness'with;\ which the money -to be; provided.- -, The totalisator turnoverperday's, racing, both here and throughout NejriZea-j land, had increased considerably, daring | the past' year, added Mr. ;Hajroonrt-i; This was in a measure due:to.the general prosperity,^ but; there, was' another, .Contributing factor which; must not be : Jbat sight of*- and .that .was that in the past "a large volume-of, the betting went .through the hand*' of , the, bookmaker, and was- never disclosed; It was'satisfactory to know that this" volume was greatly ; diminishing,; 'and if '■- the Legislature would give back, tbk double-tot-alisator the bookmaker would soon entirely disappear.;, '. ''..,v,:.y „.*■ . The remarks were concluded by an 6xpression of; appreciation:of the ser-' vices^ rendered, by the staff: of the; club, and especially was the-club indebted to the secretary,,Mr: A.< E.\ Whyte, .for .the ability showa in the" management-of the club'g affairs;'. ";-,,;. ct'M>;;''. ".! ; Mr. D. M; Findlfty, referring:: to the matter of higher stakes, said that he was in entire accord with the suggestion^; He had noticed that it was proposed to' increase the stakes for. the next meeting generally, but he would like to "see increase made,- especially in regard to weight-for-age races, as one service renr dered by this class of race.was to main-! tain good blood stock; in: the:. country, and, the-higher; staked would scryo 'Ja»';a ' inducement ,•> to- tend - to ~.;tfts r.'ehd."'-';'■•'! :'':; v" ;>'':'r-\ ■.■':■:%■ v] V'"-'..-.'i ;,yi-! 'The'-President'remarked that'the':*ar 'hod bee*; thfe only? thing'that had. been .ini;th« way; of the offering, of ihighet :stakes .before.':-;.,." /■.'■; '•■', .<;.-. ■ •■■■■:'■••.,'••■■}■ ■;.;■■'^ : '.The report'and balaßce-*heet: ■ .were /then adopted. : ■:■.;•;■>• . .VV;M- i* ,»':