ORIENTAL BAY

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 152, 29 June 1935, Page 10

ORIENTAL BAY

NEXT YEAR'S BATHING

NO ACCOMMODATION YET

MAY BE PKOHIBITION

Nothing has been heard for some time of the idea of providing dressing ' \ accommodation for bathers at Oriental Bay, and it seems likely that during the coming summer there will be a repetition of the happy-go-lucky bathing of the last two or three years, or the City Council will .have to put its foot down and prohibit bathing altogether in that locality, for to distinguish between local residents and visitors would keep inspectors moVe '. than busy. Prohibition would raise a great protest, for rightly or wrongly Wellington people have decided that Oriental Bay is a good place to swim and bathe, and-will bathe there, sheds or not. The beach and the underwater surface do not come up to the sands of 1 the outer bays, though they have been ■ greatly improved since trawling has been forbidden, during the summer months, but Oriental Bay is within a few minutes' walk of where people work and live and open beach bathing is possible there cjuring the lunch hour, whereas it is practically impossible for city workers at any other bay, and tram fares after work are sufliI cient to disc6urage. seaside bathing trips. ■ ANY SHELTER ON A HOT DAY. On particularly good days last sum- . mer there were often as many as a • thousand bathers in the water at once ■■ at Oriental Bay. Obviously they were ; hot all residents or people who had i arrived by car, ready to go in. A lot of them undressed in friendly washhouses or back-yards about the bay front, but not nearly all of them. Some undressed and redressed on the beach without any attempt to disguise the fact, and not many people objected. Others, particularly children,' -got some sort of shelter in the reserves across the road, and people of greater modesty used the public conveniences. If people are so anxious to' bathe that they will time and again use that sort of dressing accommodation, it is suggested, some real accommodation is needed, unless, of course,' bathing is ! to be forbidden altogether. Action ' was taken in a few cases, but people . who preferred open sea bathing de- , clined to be ordered to Te Aro Baths, ' and the popularity of the bay in no 1 way fell away. ; '. SUGGESTIONS MADE. Apparently no definite plan, has been ■ brought forward for providing accom- >, modation, though general suggestions ' have been made. One was that cubicles ! should be built on the beach: level outside, or underneath, the seawrall, but : the feasibility of this. is doubted, as ! heavy northerlies would sweep water ; right into any shelter that could' be provided there. Another proposal was 1 that the band rotunda, which in any | case is very little used, should be shift* ■ ed to another position and that a circuJ lar dressing house, two storeys high if ; necessary, should be built in the considerable space about the ■ rotunda, 1 giving accommodation for. several hunj dred bathers at a cost well within reason, possibly two to three thousand ; pounds, on which interest /could be ; paid by.the usual dressing shed fee. . ] Towards the end o£ last summer pro- ; tests,.were, made by ; regular, bathers at ' Te Aro baths against the dirty state of the bottom, and with, good reason, for ; during many years of use and hosing down of landings, a depth of black mud has accumulated. Tenders have 1 been called for cleaning the bottom, which will probably be done by a powerful suction pump, the. nozzle i being directed by a diver. ; .. ; Alterations to the bath, equipment, ! as in carrying water fror" the showers [ clear of the baths, and the cleaning of ! the bottom,, will make a considerable : improvement for next season, .but will [ not remove the objection that Te Aro , i baths are not now large ( enough for l the thousands of swimmers who use ! them and the still greater number who i would swim regularly if the facilities' • were more inviting. The provision of ! accommodation in Oriental Bay and ■ the improvement of the baths - f are ■ closely connected, but no matter what 1 improvements are made at Te Aro, many people will still prefer bathing i and swimming in the bay itself. 'I ■ ■■ =