SUMMER BATHING AT TE ARO

Evening Post, Volume LXXXV, Issue 49, 27 February 1913, Page 3

SUMMER BATHING AT TE ARO

♦ WANTED — BATHING MACHINES FOR ORIENTAL BAY. WATER BABIES. "It's pluck lhat does it," said Mrs. Wilton, the caretaker of the Te Aro Bath.«. The day was bright and still, and since early morning the 6un had be'en warming the water— in spite of the fact that the taupata berries are turning yellow, and the hawthorn berries redsure signs of autumn. Below, in the water, there were at least on© hundred and fifty mermaids, water nymphs, and water babied, of assorted shapes, and sizes, and— respectfully be it suggested^— of &ge&. The youngest Water babies ha<l frolicked, some of them, through only four years of Bunshine. Yet there they were, hair floating round them in the water like brown seaweed— it is sweet and twenty who affects the Canadian bathing i^p—-duck-ing and diving and floating, darting here and there with little brown arms and legs, slipping down the water • chute, "keeping the kettl« boiling" (do you remember that game?) with a- temerity that might well make an older heart quail, as much at .home in the water as the shoal of tiny herrings, that have invaded the baths, and are darting in agitation here and there, seeking an outlet. One wonders how all this has been accomplished. Have the children special instructors, and do they take long to learn ? But it appears that no particular instruction is required, and Mrs. Wilton again insists, as well as she can above the din of laughing woices (for it also appears that . the girls- do not take their pleasures as quietly as the boy« next door) that "it is pluck that does it." ' One child comes to the bath, and she watches Betty or Nancy having a delightful frolic in the water. There is no apparent trouble in keeping to -the top of the water, and after watching envi6usly the movements of ,Betty's &nd Nancy's brown, arms. and legs, the- child say« to herself, "I cando that," and in an amazingly short time she does. A big slice has been cuto ff one^hd of the big bath, enclosed snugly with a. little wall of, concrete, and h«re small girls and hig "girls take their first lessons in- swimming in perfect safety, and with what is better still, a feeling of perfect security. No mother need have qualms 'as to the safety of her child. According to Mrs. Wilton, in four days' time the small gh-1 leaves the shallow bath behind her for good, and is able to gambol with Betty and»Nancy in the large bath. In a fortnight's time she can do anything at all in the water, from taking & daring leap off the spring board, slipping gloriously down water ' chute, or swimming from end to end, or teasing a less agile sister into a- splashing match or a water chase. , The great thing in learning to swim is to begin young, the younger the better—for then > the art comes quite naturally. Every girl in an island country like New Zealand, where deep rivers abound, and where so many' drowning accidents annually occur, should know how to swim, apart from the health-giving qualities of the pastime. Indeed, in these days of tepid baths and ealt water baths, there is no excuse for not 60 doing. This has been, an excellent" season for bathing, with the exception of the early 'summer months, and the baths have been well attended, even on the cooler days. Mixed bathing has not j-etb««n inaugurated at the ' Te Aro Baths. Not because the proprieties forbid, but because the baths are not adapted for it, and because there has been no demand for it! A plea, however, for paterfamilias might be made as regards bathing accommodation in Oriental Bay, in the shape. 'of the übiquitous bathing machine. The bay 'is an ideal one for bathing, none better in Wellington ; it is sheltered, the water is nearly always smooth, and shallow 'for a, long distance out. But it is awkward for paterfamilias to patter down- from Roseneath or the heights of Oriental Bay, with his macintosned family, in the early dawn, and to return in wet, clammy garments, and just as impossible to drees and undress on the beach, in full view of scandalised windows, without the . necewary, if unhandsome, bathing machine. Sumner and New Brighton hay* their bathin*g machines, why not Oriental Bay? Bathing accommodation would add to the attractiveness of this popular seaside resort.