THE OTAGO A. AND P. SOCIETY AND TAHUNA PARK.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18768, 23 January 1923, Page 10

THE OTAGO A. AND P. SOCIETY AND TAHUNA PARK.

TO TH* EDITOR. Sir, —As a member of the society, I consider Mr John Mncpheraon’s proposal an excellent one for paying off the mortgage on Tahupa Park, and anyone reading his letter must have been impressed with the idea contained in it. I am quite willing to put £SO into such a scheme and 1 think the committee of the Otago A. and P. Society would have no trouble in obtaining the funds necessary to pay off the mortgage, as anyone buying debentures will receive his money back in a few years. The sacrifice of interest would lie the only loss to the buyer of the debentures. The meeting to decide the question of the sale or retention of Tahuna Park will be held at the end of this month. I hop© all the members who can attend will come to the meeting and they will then see for themselves those of their number who propose to sell Tahuna Park. I do not think there is one man in Dunedin that would propose such a motion. Wo have the legal right to sell the park, but wo have not got a vestige of moral right whatever.—l am, eto., ! Alex Smaill. Tomahawk, January 20. Sir,—The recent leading article in vonr columns and the letters written by Messrs Smaill and Macpherson respecting the proposed sale of Tahuna Park will, to my mind, meet the approval of all genuinely intciosted in the welfare of the A. and 1. Society How any sane man can advise the removal of the show from a beautifully situated park like Tahuna—a park that is well sheltered, is set in lovely surroundings, and has all the advantages of a good, dry position—to Wingatui, or, worse, to the harbour foreshore passes my comprehension. How many years would it be before one could get a park improved to the slate of perfection that is soon as Tahuna is m now? Why, half a life time. One Don Quixote writer informs us that we must advance with the times, and he states that the D.J.C. saved its life by removing to Wingatui Well, what, about the 1* orbury Trotting Club? It docs not look ns if it is suffering any harm. lam sure ns buildings look the reverse of delapidated. Imagine Wingatui on a wet day, dismal and clreary, no shelter, sloppy ground, everybody worse than miserable, going about calling down maledictions on the persons that took the show out there ! And the foreshore, quite a lovely spot it is! greasy mud underfoot; on a windy day, abominable, loathsome dust to fill your eyes, vile smells of every sort to outrage your nostrils; sordid surroundings—kerosene bonds, gas works, variety dumps, and such like, a place of ugly sights. I say with Mr Smaill and others, that the park ought not to be sold or bartered. I believe tno Government gave it to the A. and 1. Society, and it should remain the property of the society. . , It appears that there is a mortgage of some £EOCO on the ground. I think it would not be out of place to suggest that the wealthy firms and business men of Dunedin made a present of the amount to the -v. and P. Society and cleared off the debt. Is this not a country depending on its primary industries for.its existence? Is it not a fact that 02 per cent, of the money that comes into the dominion represents the price of the produce of the land in the shape of wool, frozen mutton, butter, and cheese, etc., and who gets the lion’s share? I am very much afraid it is not the farmers. I do not think they can boast of their high-salaried employees, their big profits, or tfieir largo dividends. One thing the farmer can do is boast about what .ic mignt have had if it had not been for the losses he incurred throughout the year. But what about, those that handle the farmers produce? Look at the agents with thenmagnificent. offices and stores: do they rot make handsome profits out of the farmers. What about those handling hides at the present moment? Some firms must have been making fortunes out of these goods for over a year or more. Butchers have been buying beef at their own price. Is it only a rumour that a well-known breeder of fat stock sold a prime bullock at the yarns some time back for £8 to a well-known firm of butchers- and that the carcase reaised £2O when cut up? And so all round. Business men of every class—lawyers, moneylenders, bankers—all get their big “whack” out of the farmers, and at the summer and winter shows all the shopkeepers are “going for their lives” reaping a rich harvest by selling goods to their country customers. Therefore I say it :s “up to” the business men of Dunedin to raise the money among themselves and pa\ off the mortgage on Tahuna Pork. The amount would only bo a drop in the bucket to them—a cheap advertisement. I quite agree that the generous city fathers” of Dunedin might chuck away their muck rake, and, instead of charging the exorbitant sum of sixpence as tram fare to the summer show—three times *“ e orr . nary faro-thoy should charge half the ordinary fare, and then we would think they were trying to help the show instead of acting like Shylooks. Let all those whoso duly it is to assist do so, and the Tahuna Show and ground would in a short time become the premier of the dominion. 1 am, etc ” Plat the Game.