WARMING THE SEA.

Auckland Star, Volume XLV, Issue 166, 14 July 1914, Page 5

WARMING THE SEA.

•— CITY SALT WATER BATHS. TO 81-: ( OMPLBUED THIS YEAR. I Tiie warm salt-wjter baths which arc ' being built -»t a of about £10,000 by the Auckland City Council on the site 'ot tlie reclaimed land in Freeman's Bay. 1 probably will be completed by November. Although the dci=ert of heaping earth and mud at the corner of the new road, [out of which rear the gaunt reinforced I concrete (pile* which are lo be the skeleI ton of tiie building, may not convey to tlic lay mind an impression of pulsating I industry, the laborious task of excavati ing the tilling which has been poured on jto the low-lying land has progressed fairly rapidly since (Xovember last, 7be I ruiult of Uie monotonous senvping of j shovels and the creaking of wheelbarrows , for months, past is now seen in the ! seoopod-out liasins of two baths. The : work of excavation is completed. Very | lillle interference has been caused toy in- | clement weather, although latterly rain i has hindered the finishing of the. concretI ing. which has progressed ously with excavation. Already over i 100 piles, whi.-b will sur>port the' ballns I and the -are.ta-ker's headquarters, are ' erected. The concrete walls of the baths i are built, and a subterranean passage ! surrounding the swimming basins -has ,been constructed. It now remains for the .City Council to decide whether it ! will tile the baths. Both waits have been 1 put in by one operation, so there arc no j joints. A small army of bricklayers has j liegun to build the exterior walls, so that jit will be seen that the back of the 1 task has been broken. The contract wbiebwas: let to Messrs. T. T. Julian.at between £o,oooand '£10,000 was for the 'building ot' a gentlemen's and a ladies' swimming bath on a site with 150 ft. frontage to the new road, and 127 ft. to Custonw street IWest, which had been leased by the (Harbour Board , to tbe City Council for 76 years at £7.> per annum. This nominal rental is in cons'■deration of certain otlie.r agreements. For exhibition rairpose* tlie U&tbg are inclined to be on tbe simal] siile, the gentlemen's bath being 100 ft. Ibv 50ft. and the ladies' 60ft. by Sftft. 'Warm salt water is to l>e sutrplied in a continuous How frcTr the <iower station near by. ' Tn-iiy.mtelv behind the entrance, which is on tbe Customs Street frontage, will be private baths, wh*le to thp-rigbt wW b<» a shower halih. Dressing boxes •will line three sides of the bath. and. in the cose of the men's bah the.*e wild ISe iir.wir'aiatelv under a soil err whioh 'will aivoir-modatp spectators on tbe occasion of fximwin!!' ffalas.