RATING OF SPORTS GROUNDS

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIV, Issue 123, 1 June 1910, Page 4

RATING OF SPORTS GROUNDS

Several sports societies at Christchurch are protesting because they, have to pay rates. On Lancaster Park,; we are told, the average rates have been £75 per annum. The Canterbury Lawn Tennis Club pays a trifle over £30 on threequarters of an acre, and the Christchurch Bowling Club a little over £15 on about the same sized piece of ground. But why should not sports clubs pay local rates? The ground occupied for purposes of sport would, if not used ior that purpose, be covered with buildings, and not a word would then be said. Why should a municipality lose a legitimate income from a city area simply because it is devoted to sport instead of to commerce? The two last-mentioned clubs on the list include amongst their members some of the wealthiest people in Christchurch, and to us at least it seems to savour of positive meanness that these "sportsmen" should grumble at paying a yearly rate which, if divided, cannot amount to more than a few pence per head. As for Lancaster Park, the annual income from admission fees must run into thousands of pounds. This whining over the payment of a small contribution to the city funds is surely unworthy of a wealthy city such as Christchurch; but the fact is that the agitation for non-payment of rates, an agitation which we trust will not be successful, is but another sign of that very general tendency amongst sports bodies in New Zealand to try to'get their sport for nothing. ,