MORE GROUNDS WANTED

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 138, 12 June 1936, Page 16

MORE GROUNDS WANTED

SHORTAGE OF PLAY AREAS

NEW WORK SUGGESTED

In a report to the City Council last night, the chairman of the reserves committee, Councillor J. Burns, stated that there will be an acute shortage of recreation grounds in the near future. "At present it is found necessary to send Wellington city teams out as far as the Naenae ground on Saturday afternoons and when the Lyall Bay Recreation Ground is required for exhibition purposes it will mean the loss of twelve playing fields," said Councillor Burns. "To try and meet the situation the completion of the grounds at Cashmere Estate, Sutherland Crescent, and Vogeltown should be put in hand immediately, Izard Park at Wadestown should be extended, and a recreation ground should be formed in the Wilton Road housing block on the west side of the road where it is not intended to build. Other areas for grounds should also be investigated." i "A SERIOUS WORRY." , Councillor Burns said that the shortage of grounds in Wellington was becoming a serious worry to the reserves committee, particularly in view of the fact that a number of grounds at Rongotai had been lost and the possibility, looking a year or two ahead, was that at least twelve grounds would be lost there if the are;, was taken for exhibition purposes. At the present time there were grounds at the Ridgeway, Sutherland Crescent (behind Newtown Park), at Cashmere (Khandallah), and another at Izard Park in the making. If the works committee could provide some more men to help in the completion of these grounds it v/ould relieve the position next year. Unfortunately a sufficient number of men was not available at the present time to concentrate on any one particular ground, due to the fact that it did not pay to send men, for instance, from the Wadestown district to the other end of the city. The grounds he had mentioned, when completed, would relieve the local heed only even if they were completed tomorrow. The other disadvantage was that there were no means of transport right to the grounds. He desired to see if the engineer's department could spare the reserves department a few more men so that the grounds could be completed and x-eady for use next year. The Reserves Department could do with another fifty men quite easily.