COMPETITIONS SOCIETY

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8611, 23 December 1913, Page 4

COMPETITIONS SOCIETY

Thososicreditors of the New Zealand Competitions Society who hav© agreed to accept 12s in the £1 in settlement of claims in respect of the recent festival held in Wellington appear to us to have acted with reasonable generosity and to have displayed a commendable public spirit. The society is fairly entitled to consideration. Its festival was well managed, and under normal conditions was likely to return a margin of profit, as was the case last year. Unfortunately, however, during the time the competitions were in progress the public had its attention diverted and its spending power restricted by a large industrial trouble, and tb© small surplus that the society had had every reason to expect became almost inevitably converted into a substantial deficit. We do not see how anybody connected with the festival "an be properly regarded with any other feeling but one of sympathy, and the creditors generously took this view and helped a worthy and useful institution out of a most unenviable position. We believe strongly in the entertaining and educative value of the festivals promoted by the society, and have held high hopes of the Wellington competitions becoming an annual fixture of wide importance. It may be early days to talk of future prospects, hut we may express the hope that the society will not be unduly discouraged by the unfortunate fate of this year’s gathering. The quite unexceptional circumstances explain the whole trouble. We believe there are better times in store for the enthusiasts who comprise the society and so successfully carried out the inaugural festival in 1912. and there is no reason why the present failure should occasion undue despondency. We have faith in the society, and look forward to many highly successful festivals in the years to come.