THE SHOWGROUND.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 111, 11 April 1936, Page 8

THE SHOWGROUND.

Ti-ie keen interest that has been aAvakened in the financial position of the Mamnvatu A. and P. Association, resulting in the first place from the serious damage caused by the hurricane ni February, and subsequently by proposals to sell portion of the present Showground and to hold the Spring .Shows elseAAffiere, should prove most fruitful at a critical time in the association’s history. For several years past the financial position has given cause for concern, and the treasurer has never once avoided his duty to impress upon the members its seriousness. With heavy overhead charges arising from mortgages and bank overdraft, the maintenance of buildings and the Amluable Showground, as well as the adpiinistrative side of the Association, the difficulty has been to meet all annual liabilities. As a meansof financial rehabilitation the proposal was advanced to the general committee to secure a new site for the Spring Shoiv and to dispose of 28 acres of the ShoAVground. In this way it was estimated that liabilities would be reduced to £2500 with a very greatly reduced interest bill. The general committee was far from unanimous Avhen dealing with the matter, the resolutions being carried by 23 votes to 16. -The publicity green the proposal immediately aAvakened a keen interest among members, and it is not surprising, perhaps, that the annual meeting, in view of the general committee’s voting, should have agreed to defer consideration for eight months. The opinion was Avidespread that the Association Avas being stampeded into a movement which required fuller investigation. The interval should be one of practical consideration of the matter. The advantage oL the Showground’s central position cannot be too greatly stressed. For -most city people no transport, or very little if any at all, is required when attending the Shows; country people have extensive parking facilities at their command, and they can do business in the city and attend the Shows without inconvenience. Moreover, the ground and appointments are excellently laid out, and to transfer the venue of the Spring Show might be folloAved by lack of interest among townspeople because of the distance of a new ground from the city, and amoug farmers and their folk who desire to combine a visit ’to the city with the Show. The town and country should combine in this matter, working wholeheartedly for the Association’s av elf are by arranging ways and means of raising finance and securing members. In this way a vigorous effort can be made to save the Showground for the city. The proposal to sell part of the property has been promoted only as a desperate remedy for -an apparently desperate case, and it will have served a valuable purpose if the interest now awakened is maintained and leads to a happier financial position without disposing of a valuable heritage.'