A. AND P. ASSOCIATION.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLV, Issue 67, 20 March 1911, Page 3

A. AND P. ASSOCIATION.

SPECIAL MEETING

THE BLEAK HOUSE PROPERTY

A special meeting of the committee of the Marlborough Agricultural and Pastoral Association was held on Saturday afternoon for the purpose of considering a proposal to purchase the Bleak House property 1 from the trustees of the late Mr W. Farquhar. The memberte present. 1 were: Messrs J. G. Armstrong (chairman), J. S. Storey, R. McArtney, G. Boyce, H. Lankow, D. . Bistiell, T. Morrin, R. J. Bell, W. D. 1 Pike, F. Redwood, and J. Dick. ! The chairman, after explaining the object of the meeting, moved: , '"That the Association offer the trus- ; tees of the late Mr W. Farquhar | £1300 for the Bleak House property, the terms to be £100 cash, the re-' mainder to stand at 5 per cent, interest for seven years." Mr Storey asked if the chairman had this offer in writing. The chairman said" that he had no offer whatever, and he was merely moving that the Association make an offer. . Mr Storey asked if the offer the chairman proposed to make had not previously been refused. The chairman replied that he did not think so. It was true that an offer had been previously made, and although it Jiad not been refused, the trustees had asked £1350 and 4£ per cent, interest. They were prepared now, however, to consider an offer of .£I3OO, £100 cash and the balance to remain at 5 per cent, interest for .seven years. Mr Bishell seconded the motion,, and asked if Mr Reid were prepared to accept this amount. The chairman said he did not know that Mr Reid was prepared to.,accept this offer. He wanted to withdraw the previous proposal to let the Association have the land for £1350, £100 cash and the balance at 4$ P©r cent, interest. He thought it- was for the committee to offer ; a price. He r kncw tnat the property was under offer to Mr Reid for £1300 at 5 per cent. , , Mr Storey thought that the matter should be gone further into, and he considered it could well stand- over, until the next'election. . It seemed to him that this land had been offered to'orfe or two members who Had been running round asking vMr Reid to make an offer. He thought they should leave the matter over until the next .committee was appointed. The chairman said that if the £1300 at 5 per cent, offer were accepted the Association would have to pay £65 in rent a year, and if they 1 paid £1350 and the trustees agreed |to allow £1250 to stand at 4£ per it., the Association would pay £60 rent in addition to the extra £50: purchase money. Mr Boyce, asked where the £100 was to- come from.

Mr Lankow said that this £100 would have to be borrowed. The chairman said that if the JSI3GO offer were accepted it would mean that at the end of -five years the Association would save £20.

Mr Larikow expressed the opinion that if the committee purchased this property it would be only loading the Association with an extra burden, and they did not want that. None of the members would think of doing this in their own private affairs. The. chairman said that Mr Neville had sounded a number of farmers on the.question of purchasing this land by subscription,/ and had already received qujte a number of promises of donations :■ for • this. purpose. Mr Bell said that the property should be purchased by the Association. He was prepared to subscribe to a fund for the purchasing of his land, but lie did not think it j necessary. The Association should buy the land. A little while ago a resolution was passed by the Association agreeing to offer a price for this land. He thought that by adding this property to the Show Grounds it would be a fine way of increasing the revenue from the grounds, which would go a long way towards paying the interest on the money laid out. The house on this property was not nearly so bad as some of the members thought it Avas, and he believed it could be let for 8s or 10s por'week. It would be a very serious mistake if the Association allowed an opportunity of increasing the size of therr grounds slip by. It had been admittted by those opposed to the proposal that the land was worth £1200 to anyone, and he contended if it was worth that amount to anyone it was worth £1300 to the ■Association, and they should not let the chance' of securing it slip. Mr Storey asked Mr Bell if he would give £65 a year for this land. Mr Bell r.eplied that it would be quite safe for him to do so. He thought, this land would soon make money for the Association. He pointed out that only a little while ! ago a referendum of members was taken on the question of removing the Show Grounds to the Grovetown property, and a majority of the members voted in favor of the present grounds. . It was obvious that there was little likelihood of the Show Grounds being changed in the future, and he thought the members should support the proposal before the meeting. n Mr Dick said Jie was as much in favor of shifting the Show Grounds to Grovetown as anyone at the time the referendum was taken. A majority of the members, however, ruled that they should not shift. It was therefore the clear duty of those who favored the removal to bow to the inevitable and to make the best use of the present grounds and to make them to suit the people. When the offer was first made he thought it out of reason, but after taking into consideration the fact that the present grounds were too narrow to be worked effectually he thought they would not be acting wisely in not buying the land. If the Show Grounds should be shifted to another part of the district in the future, they would be able to get their money back, and perhaps more, by cutting the block into sections with frontages on to Alabama Road. In addition to being able to widen the Show Ring the Association would be able to provide exhibitors with paddocks for their stock. He thought they would be wise to offer £1300 for the land.

Mr McArtney said he oould not allow the purchase of this land to go without entering his protest against it. He would certainly like to see the trustees in the Farquhar estate get as much money for it as possible, but as a member of the Association and in justice to those who placed him on the committee he could not allow the committee to saddle the members with, an unnecessary expenditure, even on the grounds of

sentiment. It had been said that the show ring required widening. There might be something in that, but the show ring, was not hi any wor?e condition than many others he knew of. The Nelson show, ring.was worse "than the Blenheim one, and no attempt had been made to widen it. In regard to the statement that the opponents of the proposal had admitted the land to be worth £1200, he admitted he had said it was worth about £1200, but his honest opinion was that it was not worth more than £1000, the price paid for it. It had been offered to the Association time and again, and on each occasion the.members had been told that it was positively their, last chance of getting - it. The property was there now, and had not been sold, and was still under offer to the Association, and they would be able to get it a year hence. 'The talk 'of cutting it up, and disposing of it in building allotments was mere .talk, because it was not a.suitable locality tor building purposes. He thought it would be extreme folly on the part of the Association to purchase this land. On the previous Saturday an amendment was carried on th© casting vote of the chairman authorising the purchase of this land. He hoped that some standing order would be adopted m the futuro which would prevent a chairman 7 from giving his castiiig vote in favor of a motion other than to leave i r t in statii quo. He .jvould vote against: the motion. He thought, this was not a matter Lfor tho members, but that the committee should ■■ ■decide" and stand or fall by their action. v- -'[' ' Mr Lankow moved as an amendment, ' "That this .business be held over until the annual^meeting,* when it be placed befpre the members for their sanction or disapproval.-'

Mr Boyce seconded the amendment.

Mr Storey said it seemed to him that there were just a few of the members of the ■* committee who desired to purchase this land. They wanted to run the Association into a hole. He hod spoken to several members on this sub|e*ct, and they did not approve of it.' The Association already had to pay interest on £3000, and he thought that members should have a say before being committed to any such expenditure, as that proposed. Th© chairman pointed out that Messrs Lankow and McArtney, although being opposed to the proposal, were hardly consistent. Mr Lankow said the members should have a voice oh this question, and Mr McArtney said the, 'committee should have the power, to deal with it. Personally he could v.ot support Mr Lankow, because the committee was elected by the members to administer their affairs, and consequently it should decide the question at issue once and for all. The Grovetown property would earn more than would pay the interest- on the whole money owing by the Association..,

Mr Storey said he had attended the Cambridge Show, which was five or six times ai large as the Marlborough £h(yn, and the ring there was not nearly as large as the local ring, which was quite large enough.

Mr Dick stated that he was at the last Nelson Show, and he found that the show rir.^ was too small altogether. He thought if this Association followed Nelson it,would be very mush 'behind the fair." Another th:ng. the Nelson Association had loose-boxes, which t')is Association tli<! not have, for the stock and h^rr.os. / Mr Bell said he had nothing to flrld excepting of course to urge the members to buy this ground. He thought they wouid sec the benefit it would be ;o tho Association in many ways. . Mr Pike said that personally he was strongly it» favor of purchasing this section. He regretted that ,tre committee was divided.;-'upon ■•■this, question, an 1 said it would be iar more satisiac-ovy to all concerned if there ,was a huge majority for or againnst the p<oposal. From wh.i'; lie had heard from the members present, he judged that this would not be the case; in. fact it appeared as if they would be equally divided on , the subject. \Jn regard to the amendment, he would have very much preferred to see tho question decided by the members, despite the . fact that Mr McArtriey had said it was not a question^ for them. Being in favor of securing this land he would vote for the motion. The amendment was then put,and defeated oh a division, , the. voting being as follows: —Ayes: Messrs McArtney, Lankow, Boyce, Storey. Noes: Messrs Bishell, Morrin, Bell, Dick, Redwood, Armstrong. The motion was subsequently carried on a division, the voting being the same as on the amendment. Mr Mackay came in at this stage and, after apologising for his late arrival, asked: Well, how did it go?" The chairman replied that a resolution in favor of purchasing the land had been carried. . "AS YOU WERE." Mr Storey gave notice that at the next meei^ng he would move that the resolution in favor of puchasing the Bleak House land be rescinded. , ~ The meeting then terminated.