BRIGHTER ENGLAND.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 53, Issue 288, 16 September 1933, Page 5

BRIGHTER ENGLAND.

MORE FREEDOM IN DRESS. OLD CONVENTION® ABOLISHED LONDON, September 1. . A brighter England has come at last, declares the "Daily Mail." Hot summers have dealt the death blow to conventional centuries-old garb, and flannels and shorts haye swept the country. But the craze for open air life often artificially provided, has brought its disadvantages. One council complains of bare-chested men roaming i>he street like apes, while many swimming pools have been found to be breeding places of disease. ~

Emphasising the. change of unwritten laws, whereby England is shedding ancient conventions and changing its national character, the "Mail" says it is largely due to two unpreeedentedly hot. summers,« causing holiday-makers to shed superfluous clothing, accompanied by superfluous prejudices. . The Englishman has now displaced drab-buttoned suits and tight collars and ties for flannels or shorts ami gaily-coloured sports shirts. . Often a bathing costume suffices for the majority of activities, and the British beaches now are as gay ag Continental places. New Problems Produced. The movement has been continued into the country by thousands of hikers and cyclists, f hile road-houses, swimming pools, and tea gardens, even beer gardens, are transforming the countryside; . . Nevertheless, the new freedom has brought new problems. Many people dislike the growing men's cult of wearing only shorts or flannel trousers. A Margate town councillor declares that they want to keep Margate fit to live in, and they cannot expect nice folks to like meeting half-naked men. : • In Bamsgate, Margate's rival, it is declared that bare-chested iueiv will not corrupt the town's morals. Condition of Swimming Pools. Another problem is the cleanliness of swimming, pools. The "Mail" instituted v. pathological investigation, the result of which, an expert declares, shows that while most of London's municipal baths are equipped with modern plant and are unexceptionable, one in the East End showed more than 1,000,000 bacteria to a cubic centimetre, resulting in the bath being quite unsafe. The water was little better than diluted sewerage.

Also some road house and country club pools are quite unsafe.' One was over-ehlorinated, severely irritating the bathers' eyes, nose and throat while others were not disinfected and contained bacilli causing sore throat. The seawater in swimming pools was found to be biolqgically dirty and the dressing rooms filthy. Even a swimming pool used exclusively by the well-to-do was contaminated and rouge and lipstick formed a scum on the surface. The danger of contaminated water is indicated at Durham, where the epidemio of scarlet fever and. diphtheria which filled the hospitals is believed to have been aggravated by bathing in the river.