THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES Wednesday, November 26, 1941. THE CALEDONIAN GROUND

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24774, 26 November 1941, Page 4

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES Wednesday, November 26, 1941. THE CALEDONIAN GROUND

The hope will be generally entertained throughout the city that the Caledonian Society's ground may be preserved as a sports ground. For sentimental reasons the loss of the ground would be highly unfortunate. It has a history that at various points touches the record of the growth and progress of Dunedin and Otago. Its value as a sports arena is not to be ignored. It is difficult at the present time to secure grounds in number sufficient to provide the accommodation necessary to meet the requirements of all the bodies that organise sport in the city. The demand for playing areas has increased materially in the past few years and is increasing. It would be idle to pretend that it is fully met. The provision of playing areas is recognised as a necessary factor in the promotion of the physical well-being of the people. A heavy reproach will rest on the public of Dunedin if a practicable scheme for the preservation of the ground is not devised. The City Council has been forced to the conclusion that, though the acquisition of the ground is not beyond its power, the offer of the Caledonian Society to sell to the municipality was not attractive since it would not be possible to obtain revenue from the property if it were purchased as a playing area. Not only would the ground not be productive of revenue but, as is perfectly clear, a considerable expenditure would have to be incurred on it to make it suitable for continued use for recreation purposes. It might be easy to argue that the City Council should have taken a wider view of the whole business and have accepted the responsibility of purchasing the ground and maintaining it, even at 'a financial loss that would be annually recurring. But it v may be contended with a good deal of justice that other possible means of keeping the property for public use have not been exhausted. From what was said by them at the meeting of the Caledonian Society, it would appear that some of its members are not very hopeful about the extent to which public spirit would be awakened if an appeal were made to the community for support in an effort to preserve the property as a recreation ground. Their judgment in the matter may be sound, but it may be questioned whether the mind of the people has been sufficiently tested in the matter There is more pi it, after all, than the desirability of preserving a playing area, the loss of which would, a decade hence or even at some date closer to us, be felt as a grave misfortune, the severity of which would, moreover, be increasingly realised in succeeding years. It would surely be a proof of a blunting of the sense of local pride if a valuable legacy, as it may be said to be, from an earlier generation were so little appreciated that no strong endeavour was not made to preserve it.