Some 20 years  ago the buz word in Timaru was a conference centre and the council set up a special fund to build one. Then a new group of councillors introduced a new buz word called Sports Stadium. Fundraising began and the council transferred the conference centre money into the sports stadium fund. I know this to be true because some of the money was mine and it was taken without my permission. The new buz word with this next group of councillors is Aquatic Centre and fundraising for that is well under way. Most forward thinking people realise that a top class hotel and conference centre in Timaru would bring in far more people than a sports stadium or a swimming pool. I cannot remember how many times I have addressed this council and asked them to consider leasing the southern end of Maori Park to a hotel chain that specialises in conference centre hotels but they won’t even put the idea on the agenda for discussion.  I’m so frustrated that I’m now offering shares in my company Timaru Tourist Promotions Ltd to float a public company so that local people can own it. If people will line up to invest $125 in a swimming pool and a gym then how much could they find if it was a project that they owned  that would create jobs and boost the local economy.
TTP already owns 6 websites from Invercargill to Christchurch along state highway one from which we would promote the conference centre. www.sh1directory.co.nz   I’m not standing for Mayor because I want the glory of wearing the mayoral chains and enjoy a free trip to China.
 I just want to find a group of leaders who will listen to common sense and can see the benefits of turning Timaru into a tourist destination for national and international conferences.

Timaru is in real financial trouble. It’s lost it last locally owned finance company which provided  cash flow for a large number of businesses and individuals. The only place these borrowers will now possibly be able to  get finance is  from north Island owned finance companies or foriegn owned banks. The Timaru city is already full of foriegn chain stores and none of their profits stay in the town. The current Timaru District Council has been spending money on luxuries it cannot afford. None of what they are doing is going to bring more people into the town. As more businesses close and people lose their jobs people will not be able to afford to pay their rates and the town will be in real trouble.

Tourism is the Answer
Timaru must look at ways of encouraging people to come to Timaru and the only way to do that is to promote Tourism.
A 5 star Hotel and conference Centre must be the first thing we should look at becuse this will bring people and with an influx of people the tourist trade will grow.

To do this I’m offering shares in my company Timaru Tourist Promotions Ltd who owns this website and 5 others from Invercargill to Christchurch. The company has been promoting Timaru for the past 5 years but it now needs capital to achieve it goals. If you are receiving your money back from South Canterbury Finance and you would like to keep it invested in the Timaru district in an investment that will rescue Timaru from bankruptcy then call me  64  03  686 1271 or email ron@timarudirectory.co.nz

South Canterbury has just lost its biggest cash cow and many of us who understand the finance industry are in mourning. I’ve had 40 years experience dealing with people in all aspects of the finance industry including sales and marketing and I can’t understand why Allan Hubbard was removed from his position as principal director in tough times when he has such a good track record of success. I also can’t believe that the Minister of Finance Bill English and our Mayor Janie Annear think that all New Zealand is going to benefit when the investors in South Canterbury Finance get their money back. What they don’t realise is that investors in finance companies are people who prefer to invest in finance companies and the chances are their money will now finish up in a finance company in Auckland

Timaru Could Go Bankrupt

No one is giving any consideration to the small South Canterbury finance borrower who has been dealing with SCF most of their life. This type of person lives on credit which they can’t get from banks. If they can’t get the finance they can’t buy anything and can’t pay their bills including their rates. If their employer goes broke then they lose their job. I would like to ask the Timaru Mayor and her councillors what is the amount of rates that are currently in arrears and of those who have made pledges to their $23.5 million swimming pool and cafe how many have actually paid up their pledges. We can blame many people for the death of the cash cow but we cannot change what has happened all we can do is look at ways to survive. I have a rescue package that if adopted would stimulate the local economy and solve many of our society’s problems but it needs the backing of the Timaru District Council. The only reason I’m standing for Mayor is because the current Mayor and her council have never ever put any of my ideas on their agenda for discussion.

Old Father and Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard is Bare

Hydro Grand

Alan Hubbard has been Father Christmas to the people of South Canterbury for most of his working life. It now seems that some of the people who he has helped have turned against him. The Timaru herald reports that a former director of South Canterbury Finance and personal friend of Mr Hubbard Timaru solicitor Edward Sullivan received a party related loan to refurbish and develop Auckland’s Hyatt Hotel of which Mr Sullivan is a shareholder.

Edward Sullivan is also the chairman and shareholder of Grand Piazza Ltd a company that owns the 98 year old Hydro Grand Hotel in Timaru. The historic hotel sits on the most valuable piece of land in Timaru overlooking Caroline Bay. The Timaru hierarchy that own the Hydro have made lots of promises about knocking it over and replacing it with managed hotel apartments but after sitting empty to close on 10 years nothing has happened. It would now appear that because of his wealth Allan Hubbard has been Father Christmas to a long line of people who have used him for their own personal gain and now they have left the ship.

Phar Lap and Bob Fitzsimmons come back fighting to save Timaru

Bob Fitzsimmons taking on the world from Timaru

Phar Lap inspiring the world from Timaru

With Allan Hubbard gone Timaru needs a new figurehead someone who can see the potential that South Canterbury has to develop into a thriving conference centre and tourist resort. My rescue package includes just that. Last year Timaru was presented with a bronze statue of Phar Lap but he needs to be promoted. Timaru Tourist Promotions Ltd has just loaded images of the statue and the Phar Lap story written in stone onto the Timaru Directory website. www.timarudirectory.co.nz

Other icons of Timaru we will be promoting are Bob Fitzsimmons, Richard Pearse, Jack Lovelock and Timaru’s very own Caroline Bay and fantastic rose garden.  Promoting all these icons together with a bid to float a public company is what I will becampaigning on in my bid for Timaru Mayor. If you want to help me promote Timaru in a way that has never been done before then go to the Timaru Directory website www.timarudirectory.co.nz and make a donation towards South Canterbury’s future.

“Its only together that we can make a change”

They were both born in the same year, both became the greatest icons of their time and were both murdered

Allan Hubbard was born 2 years after them and he worked hard and became a chartered accountant 

With a desire to help people Allan built South Canterbury Finance which eventually became the biggest and most respected finance company in New Zealand and as a result he became the richest man in the South Island.

Those who make a living from cutting down tall poppies did not murder Allan Hubbard and his wife Jean they just striped them both of their assets and left them to die a slow death in their modest home in Timaru

South Canterbury Finance ran their business from the office of Hubbard & Churcher chartered accountants. Tim Underdown was the Manager of the South Canterbury Finance and in the times when I visited him he had 2 main things on his desk. A prospectus for fundraising and a cheque book for lending. That is the way finance business was done in those days.
Broadlands Finance Ltd was taken over by Fletcher Challenge then by Australia National Bank and now it has been swallowed up by the Bank of New Zealand.
Most of the building societies and many finance companies were also swallowed up by the banks. This left smaller companies like SCF with the local market to themselves.  SCF flourished and built new premises next to Hubbard & Churcher chartered accountants in the central business area. The company purchased other small finance companies such as Ashburton Finance and Oamaru Finance.

I felt let down
A few years ago Alan Hubbard decided to float his finance company on the stock exchange and obtained a Standard and Poors rating to do so. At that time I owned a debt collection agency Debtor Communications an we collected the bad debts for SCF in Timaru. SCF stopped giving us bad debts to collect and when  I asked why I was told that they are now a corporate company and the they were using an Auckland Debt Collection agency to collect debts in Timaru. I was looking forward to the opportunity to buy shares in SCF when without reason Mr Hubbard decided not to sell his shares and at that time he owned 97% of a finance company he never founded I felt let down. The yuppies had taken over SCF and the loss of their business was part of our reason for me closing our debt collection agency down.

The yuppies took over
I had been investing with SCF for some years and after they had built their new building I went into the building to invest some more money and I found myself sitting on a very uncomfortable seat that was stuck on a wall. There was no prospectus our financial statement of any kind in sight. There was not even a newspaper or magazine to read. Every now and again a yuppie in a dark suit would run up and down the stairs.
One yuppie went by with a tray full of food and I knew the food was not for me but I realised if I invested my money with them I would be paying for it. I had discussions with their former funding manager Kevin Gloag at the time and expressed my concern that SCF had moved away from the times when the company lent small amounts of money to lots of people. Tim Underdown and Kevin Gloag were the face of SCF and when they left the company went on a downward slide
I was offered their investment with a government guarantee but I never took it because I sensed the company would go under because it had forgoten the people who built it and it was now run by yuppies from Auckland

Quote from Allan Hubbard
“It has been deeply frustrating and hurtful over the last 9 months to have been sidelined by my fellow South Canterbury Finance directors”
Media Release by Sue Wood & Associates 31 Sept 2010

 A Foal is Born
There is hope. During the depression in the 1930’s a young foal was born in Seadown near Washdyke and was named Phar Lap
He was sold as a yearling to Australian interests. Phar Lap lifted the spirits of millions of people around the world
 during the depression with his big heart as he won race after race with ease. After Phar Laps untimely death the memory of the great  champion lived on and he has become recognised as one of the  greatest champion race horses of all time.

 Phar Lap Statue & Icon
In 2009 the Phar Lap Trust and in particular local man Derick Mayne put a lot of time and energy into raising money for a life like statue of Phar Lap to be built on Phar Lap raceway at Washdyke.

• The icon is now in place on the Phar Lap race course and the champagne has been drunk but where are the people?
• The fund raiser and motivator of the statue Derick Mayne and his wife have left the district.
• The trustees of the  Phar Lap trust have all resigned.
• We understand that the Timaru District Council is to foot the bill for celebrations at the unveiling of the statue.
• Phar Lap is left looking for another motivator and fundraiser to promote him to tourists around he world.

If the business people of Timaru and Washdyke don’t make use of this great icon to promote the district then the Phar Lap statue
will become just another white elephant in South Canterbury.

 Sponsorship of Phar Lap online
My goal is to promote tourism along State Highway One  and on the Timaru Directory website www.timarudirectory.co.nz 
 We plan to build a special page  for Phar Lap where the statue and his story will be told in a slide show for all the world to see.
To do this Par Lap needs sponsorship from which we will promote the logos of all businesses that make a donation.
http://www.timarudirectory.co.nz/pharlap.htm

 The minimum donation we are asking is only $100 +gst
Your donation to promote the Phar Lap statue in the home of Phar Laps birthplace could rekindle the spirits of all those in South Canterbury who are faced with economic disaster. If your business can afford $100 or more then invest in Phar Lap online and let him bring tourist into the district.

 How to donate to Phar Lap’s Promotion
Phone me on 03 686 1271 or email ron@timarudirectory.co.nz

Farming, finance, tourist promotion, and motivation of people is my background.
My failure of not being elected Mayor 3 years ago has not stopped me from wanting
to share my vision with the people of the Timaru District.

I admit I’m not popular in some circles because my vision is different to that of the hierarchy.
My vision is to see the people of the Timaru district become the investors and owners of their community assets.

This vision began over 20 years ago when I single handedly collected donations in order to form
a public company that would build a 5 star hotel and conference centre on the Bay Hill.
The Hydro Grand Hotel was sold 1o years ago and the new owners gave us a promise to build something that
would benefit the whole community but all we have ever had from them since is hot air.

Despite having no luck on the Bay Hill idea I have now directed my attention to the council land
alongside the tennis centre on Maori Park over looking Caroline Bay and the Yacht Club.

A publicly owned 5 star hotel that specialises in conferences linked to a new $23.5 million aquatic and wellness centre and tennis centre as part
of the package would have to be a winner.
I have put this idea to the present Mayor and councillors on several occasions but each time they have totally ignored it

The council can continue wasting ratepayers money on luxuries but unless they open their doors
to private enterprise to provide a vision then I’m afraid their people will perish.

Rolleston Ashburton and Mosgiel are South Island towns that have shown real initiative in building successful industrial parks. However thanks to the foresight of property developer Noel Fitzgerald I am suitably impressed with the industrial growth rate that has taken place in Washdyke in the last couple of years. If Timaru is going to grow we need to open up more land for industrial development in Washdyke and possibility on the vacant land in the south end Timaru.

One of the disincentives of establishing a business in Washdyke is the rates. During the last 2 terms of the present council one businessman showed me how his rates have gone up over 200% in 6 years from $1876 to $6067 and he says he has received no more services. Apparently a few years ago there was some meetings held with the council over the rapid rise in Washdyke rates but in the end the ratepayers were told to pay up and shut up.

The Washdyke people have a great opportunity to promote their community after being gifted with a magnificent Phar Lap Statue. It’s a shame that Phar Lap sits behind a hedge with not so much as a sign to tell the passing traffic who he is or that he is even there.
With the Phar Lap Raceway, Richard Pearse Airport, Motor Sport Raceway, and the industrial industry I believe that Washdyke has a great future in the overall growth of the Timaru District but to do that it must build a closer working relationship with the district council and the Mayor.

Riding my horse Indian Style

Many people have said that I’m crazy standing for Mayor when I failed last time. My answer is I rode a horse to school with bare feet and no saddle when I was a boy and whenever I fell off my horse I got straight back on again.Life is life that, it will buck you off sometimes but you just have to get back on the horse and let him know who’s boss.

Many people have asked me why I don’t I serve on the council before trying to be elected as Mayor. I’m a leader not a follower. I’m a  motivator of people and an ideas man who likes to lead by example. As Mayor I will put forward new ideas and policies for the council members to consider. My farming background coupled with my experience in the world of business commerce and finance has moulded me into a town and country man who can rub shoulders with people from all walks of life.

My challenge if elected as Mayor would be to become an encourager not a dictator.

.

 I own 6 business directory websites covering Christchurch, Ashburton, Timaru, Oamaru, Dunedin and Invercargill all of which are designed to promote Timaru www.sh1directory.co.nz  
 I am a regular writer to Timaru Directory News, Travellers Guide, Facebook and occasionally the Timaru Herald.
 The reason I am standing for Mayor is because I believe my experience as a communicator, motivator, financier, business & tourism promoter would be valuable assets to the ratepayers of the Timaru District.
I would bring to the council wisdom and fresh new ideas to get Timaru moving again