N.Z. METROPOLITAN TROTTING CLUB.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 188, 14 September 1914, Page 11

N.Z. METROPOLITAN TROTTING CLUB.

A well-attended special general meeting of the New Zealand Metropolitan Trotting Club, at which the Hon. C. Louisson presided, was held this afternoon to discuss the action of the committee in not going on with the erection of a new stewards' stand at the Addington course. The following resolutions, were submitted: —(1) That the resolution passed at the last annual meeting of members setting aside £2OOO as a reserve fund should be rescinded, and applied towards the building of the new members' and stewards' stand, and that the committee should give effect to this resolution forthwith. (2) That the opinion of the members unanimously, voiced at the last annual general meet-: ing respecting the immediate erection; of a new members' and stewards' stand should be given effect to, and proceeded with at once, and that, the plans , and specifications submitted by Luttrell Bros., showing an estimated cost of £7360, and already adopted by the committee, should be signed and accepted, and that the committee should give effect to this resolution forthwith. (3) That the secretary should be asked to produce at this meeting a specific list of the donations made by the club during the past financial year, and that the committee should give effect to this resolution forthwith. The chairman briefly outlined the reasons why the committee had decided to postpone the building. One of these was that the structure could not be concluded in time for the November meeting. Financial matters also had to be taken into account, as the August meeting had not been so successful as usual. The club only had some £2OOO in hand to meet an expenditure of nearly £BOOO. At the time money was hard to procure, and so the committee felt justified in making a postponement. An offer had been received from the architects to advance the requisite amount of money, but that offer had not been received till after the step had been taken. Even had the architects' offer been accepted, the conditions were such as the club could not well accept. The committee had to safeguard the interests. of members, and had no wish to involve the club in financial difficulties. When it was decided to postpone the building, the committee had agreed to put a lot of other work at the course in hand. Then if the November meeting was as successful as expected, a start would be made with the stewards' stand forthwith. The money the committee proposed to spend would all have gone in labour, whereas if the building had been gone on with only a portion of the expenditure would have been spent on labour. The committee was still of the opinion that it had acted in the best interests of the club, but, should the meeting decide that the stand should be gone on with, its opinion would be given immediate effect to. Mr J. Whiteman moved the first resolution. He referred to a resolution carried at the annual meeting of the club, stipulating that the new stand should be gone on with immediately. He combated the assertion that the money could not be obtained, and affirmed that the architects could still have the stand well enough advanced for use at the November meeting. (Proceeding.)