SHARK MENACE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 68, 21 March 1934, Page 9

SHARK MENACE.

SYDNEY HEAT WAVE.

TRAGEDY CLOSE TO MANLY. HOW FRANK RIIEY DIED. (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, March 16It has been hot in Sydney during the past week —though our conscientious State meteorologist, Mr. Mares, assures us that Ave have not been suffering from a "heat wave," but only from a "hot spell." Out in the West the thermometer has ranged up to 107 degrees, but in the city the actual figures have not gone much above 90. But the humidity which is such a trying feature of the Sydney summer is very much in evidence. Most people have found it very difficult, if not impossible, to work during the mid-day hours and letters have appeared in "the newspapers urging that we should begin the working day earlier and cut out two or three hours in . the middle; in fact, the idea is to introduce the "siesta," which has already established itself as a permanent institution in North Queensland.

Of course all the people whose duties do not compel them to stay in town have been spending all their available leisure bathing and surfing, and as the heat makes it extremely difficult to sleep, the bcaclies have been crowded far into the night. At Bondi the attendance on some days has gone up to 80,000, and it is estimated that, taking all the beaches together, as many as 250,000 people have been surfing and swimming round and about Sydney on one day. Close to the Shore. At this season of the year there are large numbers of sharks on the coast and close in shore. As someone heis said, considering the number of, bathers and the number of sharks, the wonder is that so few casualties occur. But this "hot spell" has been marked by several "accidents" for which sharks have been responsible, and one of the most tragic of these occurred last week at Dee Why, one of the many picturesque ' bathing resorts on the coast, just north of Manly. A boy of 18, Frank Riley, was splashing around in broken water only 3ft deep and only about 40 yards from the shore, when ho gave the dreaded alarm cry, and the water around him was deeply stained with blood. Two or three of the surfers dashed out mo3t heroically to his rescue, and his friend, Laurie O'Toole, dragged the victim almost out of the jaws of the monster, which was described by those who saw it as at least 14ft long. But the poor boy was so shockingly mangled tha,t, though efforts were made to staunch the flow of blood, he collapsed and died within five minutes of being brought to shore. As so often happens, the redeeming feature of the tragedy was the reckless courage displayed by the rescuers. Great efforts arc now being made (with the help cf lines, harpoons and depth bombs) to avenge poor Riley's death. Precautions For Safety.

No doubt there are mary way& of minimising the darger from sharks. If people carefully follow the directions given by beach inspectors and experienced surfers, keep well together, and take no undue risks in regard to direction or distance, they are almost safe. But poor Riley was taken in less than 4ft of water, with 20 .people or more bathing all around him; so there sqems to be a very perceptible margin of danger. This year the Riley tragedy marks the third attack, but in the two previous cases the victims recovered. After all, considering the numbers involved, we can fairly say that an average of less than two recorded attacks per year leaves a very considerable margin of safety for the individual.