TEPID BATHS

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21290, 9 October 1934, Page 7

TEPID BATHS

•to Tire eonoa 01? thk vutaa. Sir, —It was with great interest that I saw the revised times for the Tepid Baths published in "The Press," and at once I started planning to go more often. Then a disquieting thought occurred to me. Several acquaintances have frequently warned me against going, saying that with water at that temperature all kinds of disease germs can flourish, speaking particularly of catarrh and ear diseases. This trend of opinion undoubtedly exists throughout the city, and I think that you would be doing a public service if you would get the City Medical Officer to make a definite pronouncement on the subject through your columns. If there is anything in the rumours, I think the public should be clearly warned, and if not, then the Tepid Baths deserve to have their reputation publicly and authoritatively cleared.— Yours, etc., DUBIOUS. September 23, 1934. [Dr T Fletcher Telford, Medical Officer for Health in Canterbury, to whom this letter was referred, said that as far as possible the conditions at the Tepid Baths approached the ideal. The water in the bath was constantly flowing and was changed daily. Each day the water was completely emptied out and after the bath was filed again water was continuously flowing in. This meant that there was an overflow at the sills, provided for that purpose at the margin of the bath. In this way any surface contamination which might take place was carried away almost immediately. There was a greater risk of contracting an infection through travelling with other persons in a closed or partly closed vehicle than there was in using the baths.l