MAKING ACCOMMODATION GO FURTHER

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 18, 22 January 1937, Page 10

MAKING ACCOMMODATION GO FURTHER

One criticism made of the bathing ' pavilion in Oriental Bay is that it is too small for the crowds of bathers who will use it in the summer monthssome other summer, not this one, for the pavilion is not ready and there is no summer. A Wellington resident and swimming enthusiast who returned recently from a voyage abroad has suggested that by adopting either I the basket or bag plan, or one or other ! of the locker systems, found in almost [all the popular baths in England, the pavilion could be made to accommodate all the bathers likely to use it. In place of cubicles in the English baths there are dressing-rooms, and the bather's clothes are folded and handed to the attendants in either the wire basket or large paper bag provided, or, in the locker system, are placed in a small locker and the key held, on a wrist band, by the bather. The dressing-rooms can be kept clean and in order all the time, the clothes and belongings are safe and dry, and four or five times as many bathers can be accommodated. ' There was, he < added, practically no such thing as free dressing accommodation at English baths or beaches, and the fees ran up from sixpence to two shillings at some of the private baths, but these were often splendidly fitted, with light luncheon and refreshment booths, ! easy chairs, gymnastic apparatus, and i so on, so that a full day's rest and recreation could be enjoyed if one felt inclined.