DEATHS FROM DROWNING

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22318, 4 February 1938, Page 14

DEATHS FROM DROWNING

♦—- "CHALLENGE TO SWIMMING AUTHORITIES" VALUE OF GRANT FOR TEACHING CHILDREN "It is a challenge to all swimming authorities that no fewer than 40 deaths have occurred from drowmng since December 18 in New Zealand said Mr F. G. Dunn, president of the New Zealand Amateur Swimming Association, at the monthly meeting last evening. The matter was not one for the Government, he said. Centres must cooperate to educate the public to swim. This could best be, done through schools, especially as greater co-opera-tion was intended between the swimming and educational bodies. "We must try to teach every child to swim," he added. "If we were to concentrate on one class—say Standard Four—we would soon arrive at a stage when all children leaving primary school could swim. I suggest that delegates stress the urgency of the nosition to their centres." . The teaching of swimming was not jm office of the Government, said the secretary (Mr B. O'Neill), but the work could not be done without its helD The loss of the grant during the depression made it almost impossible for centres to carry on teaching. This accounted for the present- high death-rate from drowning. "Children all over the country were drowning in rivers and creeks; and the position had reached a critical stage when Mr Parry resumed grants to schools." he said. The educating of the public could be tackled only through the children. - m „ nr . The grant of money was as important a contribution to the public safety as were the new traffic regulations Mr O'Neill said. By. the end «)f the year 20,000 learners should be proficient awimmers.