ST. CLAIR BATHS.

Evening Star, Issue 19772, 24 January 1928, Page 8

ST. CLAIR BATHS.

10 THE EDITOR. Sir, —Last Sunday being an unusually fine day, a friend and i decided to enjoy it at the St. Clair Beach in the form of a dip in the briny. Being rather modest and retiring youths, and not wishing to display our humble forms by undressing in the lupins, we repaired to the ba thing shed so thoughtfully provided by the “ city fathers.” i feel a trifle sorry now that wo did so, as on returning to don my apparel, 1 discovered that my trousers had vanished. Thinking that someone with queer ideas in practical jokes had strayed into the sheds, 1 made a careful search with the assistance of others, but with no result. Then another victim a few yards from me had his ire somewhat raised through having to contemplate the journey homo in his bare feet, his shoes and socks having departed in a like manner to my “ bags.” Someone else deplored the fact that ho was minus the few shillings he possessed on entering the sheds. Jn yarning the_ time away while 1 awaited the arrival of some covering for my nether limbs, 1 discovered from one of the attendants that pilfering was steadily growing more acute in the sheds. and that the last week or so had just been “over the odds.” It seems a young lady was kindly left a, thin dress and a hat, the sneak thiel’s bag being incapable of bolding any more, with comfort, of her outfit; while, another of the lair sex who had packed her valuables away in a suit case, safely locked, returned to find the case neatly cut open and the contents gone. Men’s socks, collars, tics, and, of course, cigarettes, knives, and other odds and ends left in the pockets, not to mention all kinds of ladies’ wear, disappear with astonishing regularity. The attendants have tried all sorts of dodges to lay the thieves by the heels, even detectives, I was told, joined in the hunt, but with no success, and meanwhile the pilfering continues, ami tlie host of victims increases.

Considering that all attempts to stop this nefarious practice have tailed, would not a means of prevention lie tetter, in the form of, say, a big room for stripping, fitted with cupboards all round it and automatic locks on each, which could only be opened by an attendant? This would save the building of more boxes which thay arc eternally crying for, prevent all thieving, and reduce the worry of the attendant, who lias my_ deepest sympathy. T have seen this cupboard system * in operation witli no little success in other places, and consider it the only remedy. This practice of things going astray is not, J am sure, helping to “boost” our pretty seaside resort, and if it is hoped to" attract more visitors there it must he • eradicated at once. What about the Improvements Society getting on tiie job, as they seem to he the people who are most interested in the betterment of St. ClaLf;—l am, etc., Debagged. Januarv 24.