STILL BEING REPAIRED

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 51, 28 August 1926, Page 10

STILL BEING REPAIRED

j SKHANDALLA^^tSW-hililirMliC V ■j-. ■ ■ . BATH : ...•-•■»".■•,.?> ; I iNEVER^»OPB^PLAN?^BD.^,J ■ Just at present .the Khandtilkh iwin* ming bath : - ia.. empty and 1 agiia ;i«ith« hands; of the repairers, and 1 members o< the Eeserye /Committee % who <i visited if yesterday afternoon j were, accordingly ( able to note the construction in all'iiti details 'and 'beauty; ; ■■■■■ ..--•. J ■■•^.v' -f More than one of the councaiorsJex^ pressed surprise, not-that.tiie'biith/is ii such • delightful surroundings,' for. they had' seen the surroundings and the bath (full'of water) before,'\it that mich. 6t the work done is of such poor quality. Here'is'a case of 'the inadvjiiability of allowing a swimming bath to just grow, f9rifrom the first the bath has never been satisfactory, and by:.' the time everything is made ship-shape ;it; will probably cost a good deal more than it would, had it beena regular brfth, plan* ned and built, according to that plan.: . ; In the first place, it was intended -. to '■be!' more of a swimming 'hole' • than a swimming bath, merely a damming of a convenient stream in a.convenient gully, so a start- was/made, with,plsia excavation and lining with boulders. The water refused to . "stay/put,,?' freshes -in the. ■; stream 'brougnt ■ down quantities of shingle, and otherwise the arrangement -was unsatisfactory,; A shingle trapv,-as added, a iough plastering of concrete was put over the boulders,.and a concrete bottom was put in. j-A fence was erected, and shelter,and dressing sheds were erected.../.... ; ■ -.-.;

The water still refused to stay inithe bath, aid last season ; it I was difficult. to keep the level sufficiently high., When the water was .run; 6jßt,;it \W.as!.eyident that the floor.was leaking-badly, apparently ' due. to; springs weakening „,th« bottom, and the deep ; end;walling:was also unsatisfactory. '■;> ;Now^affreßh>bot. torn, has.been slaid -,w;th a'special a concrete :, mixture,; and men are. now. 'i bucy chipping the plastering of the 1 si^p^iid end walls preparatory "to- ■ replastering them-.with a similar mix of repnerete. I * i The walling is very^roughrandfjßneven, and though thenew coat may take away the roughness,' the unevennets is so pronounced that a; mere plasteiiiDig will, not straighteniitvup.'. jMoreov-er, the' .concrete .work round the: bath '-eaii be;qiiite truthfully describfid as?onv;tS« rough side. ' ■ ' •.■:•.'/.'...■ \..-\

; As a matter of :fact, a-swimming bath has ".to be very carefully plinntd"; fo stand up to the unusual pressuregthMt arc put upon the walls ■and!bottom,-ani as!this i bath.was neyer really planned, but grew, jas necessity demanded, from stage to stage,; itirisi^not>remkrKibl» that it has not any remarkable, polish.'- ---■ As ' Khandallah people! do not go there to admire polish that does not greatly matter-rthereiis}no-! suggestion that.the bath is not;thoroughly appfeciated—but this bath' certainly- do'ei suggest; that, if .any 'future 'work;o€' tfi» kind is to be undertaken, it should proceed according to a 'definite plan, v : ; : • f'f