KENSINGTON PARK LEASE

Northern Advocate, 11 July 1925, Page 6

KENSINGTON PARK LEASE

CONTROL OF RACE TRACK. ACTION BY COMMII TEE. , That the matter of a new racecourse had received considerable attention during the year by the committee was mentioned in the annual report of the Whangarei Racing Club on Wednesday evening. Besides the harbour reclamation the members had inspected two other properties that were on offer. Owing to the rapid growth of the club and its increasing popularity with patrons of racing the committee was of opinion that the club would either have to increase the accommodation at Kensington Park or purchase a property of its own. The present lease of Kensington Park, which expires in 1933, did not warrant spending large sums there and the matter of a new course or a satisfactory lease of the park had to be looked on as one of the greatest urgency.

During discussion upon the report, Mr O. E. Stout expressed the opinion that very few knew what had happened in regard to Kensington Park, or what had been done relative to securing a new course. It had been suggested at a former meeting, he continued-, that the committee should do nothing in regard to the new course unless sanctioned by the club. . Two years ago a special bill had been prepared to authorise the Whangarei Borough Council to grant the club a further 21 years' lease of Kensington Park for six days' racing a. year and the use of the tracks. The measure had been been put through after a great deal of trouble. The speaker thought he was right in saying that the matter had not been brought before a general meeting, but had been dealt with by the committee. Why the proposed lease had been turned down he did not k:iow—members rarely did know of such matters. He understood that one reason was that Parliament insisted that there should be no training of horses after 9 o 'clock in the morning. The bill had been turned down, however, and that would have to be considered if the club approached the Council again upon the the subject. The. majority of the members realised that the club was a small one and they were not prepared to spend a large sum for a new course.

The president, Mr R. G. Hosking, said that when Mr J. S. Dent was Mayor the Borough Council had promised' to put through a bill to give the club an extented lease on certain conditions. The matter had been dealt with in committee, which the committee had a right to do, and it had turn-

Ed down the proposal The lease had been turned down, but the subject had not been abandoned, for there was r.ot one member of the committee who wished to t.nke the racing away from Kensington Park. But it would not have been businesslike had they not looked ahead, as they might require further training facilities. However. he felt sure that, if a satisfactory could be obtained, it was the wish of the committee not to go away from the park. . The one asset «, racing club had was its course, for without that it could not get tho horses to race.

'Mr Iloskiug related that recently Mr R. J. Mason, trainer of Gloaming, had almost declined to race the champion on a Hawke's Bay racecourse on account of ruts due to motor cycle races having been allowed. Member's would realise that unle*s thev had a perfect course they could not get the best class of horses to race, and nobody wanted to sefe scrubbers.

Reference was also made by Mr Hosking to the financial aspect. The club had been paying a rental of £50 a yenr, which would be raised to £75 next year, and to show that the committee was kesn on getting the further lease of the park it had offered terms, including £75 rental, 10 per cent, of the takings and one-fifth of the profits annually, making in 'all «i sum which would have realised £460 this year had the lease been taken up. "So you see that if we were to increase our payments from £50 to £4f>o for rental we wanted something for it; we wanted the ownership of the track," said the president, who proceeded that the proposal was killed from the distri-h. The damage was done by those who saw that the club would get the track for only six days a year and that horses should be off it by 9 a.m. Mr Ilosking thought that, another bill could be got through and he knew that support would be forthcoming from business men, but he thought "that the club should get the I use of the track as long as it could control it.

Mr D. A. McLean, who as Mayor, had been instrumental in putting the bill forward said that there was no possible chance iof the Racing Club getting control of Kensington Park. Undoubtedly opposition on grounds had had effect, and he had been assured by members of the House of Representatives and of the Upper House that it would be impossible for the club to gain control of any part of the park when the present lease expired. On that point he spoke with authority.

Mr T. A. Williams urged that it was of paramount importance to the welfare and prosperity of the club that the lease should have been taken up, and that it was right that the club shou'd not have control of the park. The owners of the park would do the right thing and the 9 o'clock restriction would not have been enforced. He failed to see how the purchase of a new course 1 could be considered, and ho would rather so. ;'i of Kensington Park taken and the club work In harmony with the A. and F Society and the people of the town. The president replied to Mr. Stout that the committee had adopted a businesslike attitude in regard to paying its share in connection with the expenses of the bil'. The Borough Council had undertake!! to run the bill if the club loaned them money. The cdub had taken up Borough Council debentures to the amount of £1000. Mr. A. F. Thomson asked whether, if the question of a similar lease came before the committee again, it wou'd

be treated by the executive in the same 1 way as on the last occasion. | Mr. Hosting: "Yes, unless we can j get control of the track." I Mr. Thomson then aslced whether the i president would accept it as a recom j mendation to the committee that such a question should be dealt with by a full meeting of the club. The president replied in the affirmative and the discussion closed.