The Daily Telegraph. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 1883.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3607, 2 February 1883, Page 2

The Daily Telegraph. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 1883.

It would add to the comfort aud convenience of a good many people if certain simple arrangements were made by which the amendment of By-law No. 20 could be rendered advisable. This by-law restricts the time for bathing from the sea beach within the hours of 9 o'clock at night, aud 7 o'clock in the morning. It may bo taken for granted that after 9 o'clock in the evening very few people have the slightest desire to bathe. The heat of the da}' by that time is over; men have finished their work, gone home, washed, changed their clothes, and are looking forward to bed. The boys of properly regulated families arc not allowed out of doors at such an hour, and prohibiting bathing before 9 o'clock practically means no bathing at all. Then, again, to compel people to bathe before 7 o'clock in the morning is to debar scores of people from a plunge in the sea. To comply with the by-law means to very many the necessity of getting up before G o'clock, an hour that, however much it may be recommended by the faculty, does not recommend itself to those who need not do it. The absence of a long shelving sandy beach, and the presence of sharks in the sea, must always militate against Napier as n fashionable watering place, but the consideration of these matters, we imagine, did not influence the Municipal Council. The finest watering place in the world would be ruined by a hard and fast puritanical by-law such as avc have in Napier to regulate bathing in the sea. Are we such savages that no loop-hole of escape can be allowed r Are bathing machines and bathing dresses to be interdicted for ever 'i Our by-law says nothing of either, but assumes that if anyone bathes he will enter tho water in' a state of nature, and then run about the beach to dry himself. People aro not guilty of this sort of thing at watering places iv Europe, ov in the more civilised parts of the colonies, and wo don't think the inhabitants of Napier have' Very much -.generated froni the civilisation o. the

parent stock. It is in the nature of a bylaw such as Aye have here to induce a careless deportment;' it creates in the minds of bathers the feeling that, within certain

hours of the tAventy-four, the law alloAvs them to ignore the ordinary rides of decency. AVhat we.Avaut to know is this— Avhat harm could possibly arise from allowing people to bathe all day long? The removal of all restrictions as to the hours of bathing woidd very soon create a demand for bathing machines, or dressing houses, and for properly made garments. Persons should certainly not be permitted to undress on the beach, any more than in the street, on the pretence of going into the sea, but beyond certain simple regulations as to costume, which, would be obvious enough to the shalloAvest understanding, there should be no hindrances placed in the Avay of the indulgence of the luxury of a. bath from the beach. AA r e do not know whether Avhat has been said will have any effect in disabusing the Council of the necessity of crippling liberty for the sake ot decency, but our contention is that the law of the'land is sufficient Avithout any bylaw on the subject. In the meantime a suggestion has been made to us, which we flunk is a. very good one. It is that a high stout hoarding should be erected across the beach, at the bathing placo under the Bluff, behind Avhich people might be allowed to bathe at all hours of the day. The hoarding Avould want promenaders that they need not go beyond, the barrier, AA-hile it would also afford every privacy for bathers.