Society Calls For More Life-Saving Instruction

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32114, 9 October 1969, Page 18

Society Calls For More Life-Saving Instruction

The opportunity to progress in the training of life-saving candidates in schools was being denied the society through the drastic reduction by the Education Department of physical education advisers. This view was expressed by the president of the Royal Life-Saving Society, New Zealand (Mr G. D. Griffiths) at the society’s annual meeting held in Christchurch. Mr Griffiths said that there were now only 37 advisers for the whole of the Dominion and they no longer had the time to encourage the teaching of swimming and life-sav-ing as they used to. For the healthy development of New Zealand children, the society would like to see more physical education specialists employed in the Education Department. A remit was passed asking the council of the society to confer with the education authorities in an effort to promote life-saving in secondary schools as only a small percentage of the schools took an active part in life-saving instruction.

Members of the society also expressed anxiety about the number of children under 10 years old being drowned. One third of all lives lost through drowning each year were of children in that age group. Delegates were urged to continue to remind parents who attended life-saving lectures and demonstrations that “watched children don’t drown.” Another remit was passed to allow a new branch, Bay of Plenty, to be established. The candidates who passed the recent examination for the Diploma of the Royal Life[Saving Society were:—H. Cur-

son (Southland); S. Giller (Canterbury); O. Anderson (Wellington); K. Reynolds (Taranaki); M. Crawford (Otago); S. Collier (Auckland). The following officers were elected:— President, Mr G. D. Griffiths; vice-president, Mr S. B. Mason; hon. treasurer, Mr A. W. Mahoney; hon. award secretary, Mr S. B. Mason; hon. chief examiner, Mr S. E. Nicol; hon. solicitor, Mr V. G. Spiller, hon. auditor, Mr C. L. Sugden; delegate to the council N.Z. Surf Life-Saving Association, Mr M. White; delegates to National Water Safety committee, Mrs S. Budd, Mr W. Dariey.