Councillor Harcourt asked how long ago it was that an application had been made for the use of the Basin Ecserve and re fused ?

The Mayor said the Council had been endeavouring to put the Park in order for football purposes. The City Surveyor said he did not think it advisable the Park should be used on Saturday, because if the grass was damaged it would throw the ground back for football purposes for another year. However, he said it was a matter for the Council and the Deserves Committee, and left it to them. The Com mittee were assured by representative foot ball men and men of experience, that if proper precautions were taken one day’s play would not damage the ground, those precautions being that it should be rolled before and after the game, and any holes made filled up. The Eeserves Committee were in this difficult j>osition, that they were endeavouring to make the Park a good ground for football purposes, and with that view they closed it for a year. On the other hand they were met with this position, that there was a representative team coming from New South Wales, a colony where the greatest courtesy had been shown to the representatives from New Zealand, and they were urged by foot ballers, who wore the persons principally interested in the maintenance of this ground, to allow the match to be played.
