BATHS FOR KARORI

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 254, 23 July 1929, Page 9

BATHS FOR KARORI

NO MONEY VOTE AVAILABLE “BURNING QUESTION” FOR THREE YEARS For some years Karori has been agitating for swimming baths. Remote from the sea, this growing suburb is pushing for all the privileges enjoyed by other suburbs, and moreover, is prepared to financially assist a project that will produce a swimming pool for the young people of the district. To urge, such an amenity a large and representative delegation waited on the Reserves Committee of the City Council yesterday afternoon. Kight at the outset they were met with a very blunt reversal. “I am given to understand that you are here in connection with baths for Karori,” said Councillor B. B. H. Burn, the chairman. "Well, 1 can tell you that there was a certain amount on the estimates at one time, but since then there have been additions to the committee, and they have thought rather differently to the old committee. What I want to say is that there is nothing on the estimates tor Karori baths.” “After such a staggering statement,” said Mr. W. Simm (chairman of ' the Karori Progressive Association), “is it any use our wasting the committee’s time? If the position is that there is no hope of getting anything done perhaps we had better retire in good order, and organise an agitation which will make the urgency of our appeal felt.” “We have been instructed by the Mayor,” said the chairman, “that we must make no further commitments of any kind that are not provided for on the estimates. Originally we asked for £75,596, but that figure was reduced to £42,000 when they put the knife right through them, The Mayor gave it out to each committee that no further works were to be done unless out of the allocation provided in the estimates.” Mr. Simm went on to say that the matter of swimming baths for Karori had been a burning question for the last three years, and he had been given to understand that a scheme had been promoted to that end, which had the warm approval of the Mayor, city engineer, and director of reserves, and that the council had all but clpsed with the owners of a most suitable site off Campbell Street. This site was near the Karori State School, with its 600 scholars, and a hundred yards away from the Marsden Girls’ College, which had an attendance of about 400. They based their claim for baths as being essential for teaching the very necessary art of swimming. At Karori, remote from the sea, they had no facilities of any kind, and as an earnest of what they thought about the matter when mention of the project was made at the annual meeting of the Progressive Association, no less a sum than £BO was subscribed in the room. Indeed, he could say that whatever eall was made upon them they would be prepared to meet, it He was bitterly disappointed that the grant had been struck off the year’s estimates. He understood that a proclamation had been plaeed upon the land. If the work was not to be prosecuted, was not that unfair to the owners of the land? Continuing, Mr. Simm mentioned that no Wellington suburb was going ahead like Karori. There were now 5000 residents in the district, and the returns showed that houses were being built at the rate of from 170 to 180 a year, so he considered that there was a real claim for urgency in the matter of swimming baths, as the children of the district had no right to be placed at a disadvantage with those of any other suburb. He asked that the land should be acquired, and that a sum of money should be set aside for the immediate prosecution of the work. Mr. H. L. P. Dyett said that when he first became associated with the school the average attendance was 350; now it was 600. Of the nineteen sections offered by auction on Saturday last, sixteen were sold, which indicated the live growth of the district and the need of making proper provision for the future of what was going to be a very large suburb. As they had no taths, only a very small proportion of their children could swim. Mr. W. H. Fisher emphasised the unselfish work of the New Zealand Swimming Association, and the uphill task it had to try and persuade the Government and local bodies to assist them to teach the young (how to swim. “They are all sympathethic,” said Mr. Fisher, “but when it comes to the £. s. d. it is another m!, Couneinor Semple; That’s the acid teS “That is the acid test,” agreed Mr jpigher. Later Mr. Simm mentioned that the Re turned Soldiers’ Association were pre pared to give £lOO for excavation work, and they and the Progress Association would subsidise it 30s. to the £, making a sum of £250. .aa, . , .■ “We collect about £200,000 m rates, said Councillor F. Meadowcroft ’This committee nets nearly 25 per cent of that to spend (£42,000). Do you think, Mr. Simm, R should be spent on swimming bathe rather than on roads and footpaths, so that the people can get to their homes?” . , , , .. Mr. Simm: On roads and footpaths—but I could argue it out Mr. Simm wished to know what amount the council expected them to raise as a fair contribution, Councillors Luckie and Burn said it would be wrong to name any sum, but the former’s advice to the delegation was to raise as much as possible, so that provision would be made on next year’s estimates. .... ... When Mr. Fisher mentioned that baths were revenue-producing, his mind was promptly disabused of that misapprehension. Councillor Burn said that between 60,000 and 70,000 children had attended the baths last summer, without yielding a brass farthing, so they did not regard baths as paying concerns. When Mr. Simm mentioned the urgent necessity of securing the land, he was informed that the matter would be referred to in committee later on, so that even the “basis of action” is in abeyance.