REDUCED CHARGES

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 59, 7 September 1937, Page 8

REDUCED CHARGES

ATHLETES' REQUEST

THE HATAITAI GROUND

rSLTci Kitto, who headed the denotation said that last year an agreeShad been come to by which the Wre was to pay £75 for the use of the ground for training purposes. So far it had forwarded £50 of that amount? and it now asked lor the. reSon of the remaining £25. mainly on account of the bad season, as the result of which the centre had a cash balance of £36, with further obligations Bending, and also because the ground wafnot really in a fit state for their purpose. There had been opposition from the component clubs to taking on training there. He offered the committee £50 for the ensuing seaS°The chairman of the committee (Councillor J. Burns) reminded the deputation that the council's offer of the use of the ground had been for £100; there had been a compromise on £/5. Mr. A. B. Shappell spoke of the state of the ground at present. The sowing of the top-dressed ground had not yet been commenced, and this would tend to make a late start for the training. The buildings were.very draughty. Councillor L. McKenzie: It is the sowing season. The Director of Parks and Reserves (Mr. J. G. MacKenzie) said that he thought the association was making a great deal of fuss about nothing. Young men training for football needed a good deal of fresh air. The building was, not a conservatory. Mr. Kitto pointed out that the athletes had to undress in the main gymnasium, while the footballers, for whom the building was intended, dressed in the smaller rooms. Councillor P. M. Butler reminded the deputation that the council had spent £500 on the drainage of the ground, chiefly on account of the fact that it was to be used for athletic training in the summer. Some of the points raised by the deputation could easily have been settled with Ihe Director of Reserves, said-the chairman. The trouble was to find pieces of land for sport. It had been thought that giving the association Hataitai ground would settle that. As to the statement that the ground was not in order, the association was told when it applied that it .would really not be ready for another year. There were always difficulties inground that was made by filling. The requests ■ for reductions would be considered.