RACECOURSE DEAL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26114, 29 March 1946, Page 5

RACECOURSE DEAL

NUFFIELD’S PURCHASE CLUB STILL HOLDS LEASE SYDNEY, Mar. 28. Finding that he could not obtain assurances that the Victoria Park Racecourse in Sydney, which he recently bought for £IBOO an acre, would not be resumed for racing purposes, Viscount Nuffield has signed a contract with a South Australian company to do all the bodybuilding work which he had intended to do at Sydney. In a long statement Viscount Nuffield criticised the New South Wales Premier, Mr W. J. McKell, and outlined the efforts his representative had made to obtain a statement of Government intentions. The position is that the Australian Jockey Club holds a two-year lease of the course and that the Sydney Turf Club has “ certain powers of resumption.’’ Viscount Nuffield paid £205.000 for the land and he now learns that the Turf Club is proposing to reopen the course for racing. Viscount Nuffield’s statement was in reply to Mr McKell, who said in the Legislative Assembly that Viscount Nuffield’s representative had shown “an absence of care in purchasing Victoria Park Racecourse without considering the existing lease and the powers of resumption of the Sydney Turf Club.”

Viscount Nuffield points out that the erstwhile racecourse had lost its licence. Because of conditions in England and America it was impossible to obtain heavy machine tools for delivery to Australia under 18 months. He intended to use this time in preparation for the production of a car which would-be wholly Australian. Sydney Turf Club officials said that they were willing to meet Viscount Nuffield, but they thought the placing of a factory on the ground would remove a recreation centre from a congested district.

Mr McKell said this morning that he was still willing to assist Viscount Nuffield in any way possible.