Govt aid for pools ‘inadequate’

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33413, 20 December 1973, Page 16

Govt aid for pools ‘inadequate’

Community responsibility for the construction of school swimming pools must be matched by more realistic Government assistance, a meeting at the Branston Intermediate School was told yesterday.

The meeting was organised to accept a cheque for more than $2OOO presented by the Wigram Lions Club towards the construction of a swimming pool for the school. The present level of Government assistance of $5OOO was not adequate to meet the needs of schools which were expected to teach young people to swim, the president of the club (Mr D. Clark) said. It was not in the inter-

ests of the community to be forced to finance the greater part of the $24,000 cost of such a swimming pool. The time was approaching when swimming pools should be provided as part of the basic equipment for every school.

Since Branston Intermediate School was opened three years ago, more than ($12,400 has been raised by the local community to assist the school in the provision of equipment. The headmaster of the school (Mr R. Armstrong) said that the Hornby district had been more than generous in the help which it had given to the school. He agreed however with Mr Clark that community assistance must be matched by a more carefully planned system of Government help. It was imperative that the school should have a swimming pool as soon as possible, and to achieve this aim a special loan would have to be raised to ensure that construction began next year.