AT THE BATHS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 136, 6 December 1909, Page 8

AT THE BATHS.

SCENES AT TE ARO.

There must be many a worthy citizen going about town to-day, who would strongly resent a hearty slap on the hhoulder from an effusive friend. He would shrink under the enthusiastic greeting, pull a wry face, and then pour obloquy on the astonished friend, who perhaps has never seen him taken that way before. Only those who have been out in the hot sun with the minimum of raiment know what it means to 1 bo slapped on the shoulder next day. That comes of bathing on Sunday. A FAVOURITE DAY. Yet Sunday is a favourite day with the bather, especially if there is a warm sun and a high tide at the baths. It is the day of tho week. After the heat and the dust and the toil and the bustle of the six working days, the worker, whoever he or she may be, is I giad to slip down early in the morning sun of the seventh, and plunge into the cooling water. SUN AND TIDE. So Sunday morning — there is no afternoon there — Sunday morning at tho ■ To Aro baths is something to contemplate as the guerdon of a week's work, something to remember when black Monday comas again. And yesterday was tho day of the season. Sun and tide conspired to make things perfect, nor was there anything but the gentlest zephyr to disturb the peace. Yachts stole out of the- boat harbour and passed slowly by. Skiffs shot from behind the Taranaki-street wharf and glided across Oriental Bay. Motor launches flitted quickly past with happy parties aboard bound for Arcadian restfulness beyond Point Halswell. The Maori came sweeping by from the South, approaching tho wharf in a graceful curve. And over all shone a brilliant sun in a cloudless sky. ( The baths were crowded. From six o'clock onwards the bathers came down filling all tho bfrxes and the open dressing sneds. Some went home to breakfast and some stayed right through till closing time. All passed the thus gloriously, now disporting in the v/ater now basking in the sun. The tide was high and the water deep and it was quite safe \ to dive from the highest point of the triangle. Nothing is more beautiful than a graceful dive, nothing more ludicrous than a clumsy one. So even for the onlookers it was pleasant to lio in the sun contemplating the vicissitudes of the sublime and the ridiculous. Here one man would make a quick dart up the spring board, fly into the* air like a swallow, and take the water liko a leaping salmon — the very poetry of motion. Theii another would follow and execute a sort of fantastic tangle in mid-career, and drop in a knot with a loud splash into the water amid the laughter of the spectators^ — pure comedy. So the fun' went on all the morning. From the sanctum of the ladies' bath came the shrieks of delight usually associated with tlie ablutions of the sex. Some stood dripping like mermaids on the parapet of the retaining wall. With the tide at its height and everything at its best went the dread bell, which sounds a warning that bathers must pack up and leave. It was generally voted hard lines to have to get away in the middle of the day. Kegret has been expressed in many quarters that the baths should be closed trom mid-day to two o'clock on week days, except Saturday, the very hours when a dip into the briny would brace a man for the afternoon. The baths are also closed on all public holidays — the very days when hundreds would take advantage of them, if they were open. Financially, it is urged, it would pay tho council to keep them open at these times.

The Register and Property Investors' Guide, issued monthly by Messrs Harcourt and Co. in connection with their business as land and estate agents, is to hand. This (December) issue completes the twelfth year of its publication, and. the Register still maintains its popularity. A feature of the publication is the Financial and Share Report. The evidence taken at the preliminary enquiry into the outbreak of fire on the steamer Warrimoo at Dunedin, on the 15th November, has been considered by the Marirfe Department authorities, and it has been decided that a magisterial enquiry into the occurrence shall be held. This will take place at Dunedin as soon as convenient arrangements with the magistrate can be made, while the j nautical assessors will be appointed at "Wolliri*jton when -the date of tdae enquiry is available. The Warrimoo is clue back at Wellington from Sydney on the 15th inst. During the past few days the thermometer has been frisking in the shade to the 70th degree, and even greater lengths of playfulness, in various parts of New Zealand. Wellington's share of the warmth has been ample, but generally the heat has not been oppressive. On Saturday and Sunday the sun was working hard here, but the blaze was bearable ; the strong rays w«re not acpanied by mugginess. The turbulent immigrant from the Tasman Sea, whose advent was heralded by the Meteorological Office on Friday, did not miss New Zealand, but it was not a severe shot; it was an outer instead of the bull's eye that was dreaded. The Bluff had a thunderstorm on Saturday afternoon, and the South Island was well treated to havy rain last night, but the thirsty North was denied a shower. Tho signs are for a continuance of warm humid weather. The Wollington Central District Cricket Club's concert will be held in the Concert Chamber of the Town Hall on Wednesday evening. The inauguration of the district scheme has already proved /to be a success. At the same time the starting of a new club the size of the Central is expensive, and the object of the committee is to try and clear off the initial expenses and place the club on a firm financial footing. The committee have arranged a splendid programme for Wednesday flvening. ' Some ungraceful language was uttered this morning against the altered trai,n services, which were st-arted today, but the expostulations were not necessarily valid arguments against the new regime. Some persons had omitted to study the notices in the papers, and had not sought enlightenment in the penny time-table. Hence they went to To Aro Station, expecting to take passage,, as of old, for the Wairarapa. Here they learned that the train was to depart from Lambton Station, and they were obliged to make a hurried retreat, with bulky baggage, to Courtenay-place, for a car. And on the journey to Lambton they grew to dislike the order which compels the motormen to pull up every 100 yards or 150 yards, even if there is no call from a passenger or intending passenger. The 1 only Wairarapa train that has its starling point at Te Aro under the new schedule is the 10.15 a.m. Te Aro Station is obviously not recognised as an,, important one for Wairarapa traffic. , An International Glub is to be established in Wellington. A circular sets out that the object of the club is to bring together ladies and gentlemen of all nationalities, interested in language, travel, and foreign countries, and to organise meetings, lectures, social evenings, etc. Mr. G. Rose is honorary secretary pro tern. The subscription to the club i& Si for ceutlemen, and 10a fid 3or-ÜB*.