LIFE SAVING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 240, 10 October 1934, Page 8

LIFE SAVING.

ROYAL SOCIETY.

CHAIRMAN VISITS DOMINION.

TO STUDY N.Z. METHODS

"Nearly everybody lives inland in •England, and it is difficult in consequence to organise beach patrols for the summer months. The members are trained in the towns and when the holidays come they have to be organised when they reach the beaches. Therefore I am particularly anxious to learn the details of the organisation of your surf clubs." The foregoing statement was made this morning by Mr. H. H. Lock, chairman of the central executive in London of the lioyal Life-Saving Society, who arrived by the Wiyiganella from Sydney. He has come to New Zealand at the invitation of the New Zealand council of the society and will spend several weeks in the Dominion. He intends to return to Auckland in February, when surf bathing is in full swing. "If I am not able to come then," he added, "Mr. ,T. C'. Fishenden, a member of the central executive and vicepresident of the society, will make the trip." Nearly 1,000,000 Awards. Mr. Lock said the had 42 branches throughout the Empire, and last year 77.000 awards for proficiency in life-saving were issued, the recipients in the major'ty of cases being adults, living in Great Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, Malta and various Crown colonies. The society was established 45 years ago by the late Mr. William Hcnrv, and nearly 1,000,000 awards had been issued since then to properlytrained life-savers. As the result of a visit to the Dominion in the course of an Empire tour by Mr. Henry, the movement had been put on its feet in New Zealand. "I am here, in contrast with Mr. Henry, not to set things going," said Mr. Lock, "but to consult with the leaders for the general advancement of the movement throughout the world." The scope of the work in England included the teaching of life-saving in the Government schools, and in some of the public schools as well, said Mr. Lock. Harrow was an instance. England was well equipped with public swimming baths, and during the last five years swimming had grown enormously in popularity. In ten years the number of public baths had trebled. There was not sufficient surf for surf batliino- on most of the English beaches. had been a yearly average of 2000 swimming fatalities in England, but there had been no increase in recent times despite the increased number of swimmers. "In the cities and towns people swim all the year round," said Mr. Lock. "All the public baths are provided with facilities for warming the water so that there is no diminution in attendance when winter sets in. There are the others, too, who 'break the ice' all through the winter. I am one of these, and have frequently broken the ice of the . Serpentine in London."