YACHTING

Evening Star, Issue 25928, 21 October 1946, Page 9

YACHTING

APPEAL FOR GREATER INTEREST OTAGOGLUB'S ANNUAL MEETING An appeal, for greater interest in the sport of yachting was made at the annual-meeting of the Otago Yacht and Motor Boat Club, held at the Boat Harbour on Saturday afternoon,, and it was decided to call a special meeting of all, boat owners in the club to discuss the club’s deteriorating financial position, and) the welfare of the organisation generally. The commodore, Mr A. A. Knewstubb, presided) over an attendance of 20 members. The amount that the dub had been requested to pay for the salaries, prizes,, 'lighting, and social activities during’the year was criticised by Mr Cl. Geddes, when the report and balance sheet were being discussed l , and he declared that the club could) not carry indefinitely the. heavy expenses it had incurred during the past. year., The balance sheet showed that the club had lost approximately £BO on the year’s operations, and something would have to be done to restore its financial stability. Mr S. F. Knight said that while 1 many members of the club were prone, to regard the members of the executive as a good target for criticism, they appeared to forget that the club belonged to them and not to the executive, and were apparently not sufficiently interested in the welfare of the club to attend the annual meeting. In the past seven years the club had had eight commodores, five secretaries, and three caretakers, and. there must have been a reason for that. • Without; the co-operation of the members, .the club could make no progress, and it was particularly necessary that members should give every assistance they could at a time when it appeared that the club would be faced with further heavy maintenance expenditure. The commodore said that the - unchecked deterioration of the club’s property over many years had had to be rectified during the past year, pnd that had been responsible for a substantial portion of the deficit. The blub was also faced with additional expense in the future. The report and balance sheet were adopted. ELECTION OF OFFICERS. The following office-bearers were elected:—Commodore, Mr J. Fenton; vice-commodore; Mr A. A. Knewstubb; rear-commodore. Dr S. B. Strain; club captain, Mr R. Kay; committee—Messrss J. Dickson, A. Hanson, R. Cahill, and Alex. Cameron; auditors, Messrs R. F. Fraser, and F. C. Henderson; trustees, Messrs F. Goodwin, L. Nees. and B. H. Nees. MEETING TO BE CALLED. It was decided to call a meeting of all the boat owners in the club for the purpose of discussing the club’s future policy, Mr Geddes stating, that unless they were prevailed upon to pull their full weight the club would drift back. The commodore announced that a [ challenge cup for open competition by Idlealong class boats had been re- 1 ceived from Mr J. Black ie, and it was decided to thank the donor for his gift. (