ST. CLAIR BATHS

Evening Star, Issue 23743, 26 November 1940, Page 3

ST. CLAIR BATHS

SUGGESTED CLOSING •• A RETROGRADE STEP " “The closing of the St. Clair Baths ■would be u most retrograde step, declared “resident (Mr W. A. Jenkins) at last nMit4 meeting of the Otago Summing Centre in referring to the possibility mentioned by a speaker at a re “ nfc gt nf the City Council that the fct. y^ir Baths be closed. Strong criticism voiced at the state which the council had allowed the baths to reach and a deputation was appointed to on the General Committee on the whole question ° f Diseussihn 3 arose from a letter from the town clerk (Mr R. A. Johnston) in reply to a letter from the centre relative to the condition of the baths He advised that tho General Committee had authorised the city engineer to proceed with the work of repairing the outlet valve and the removal of sand and gravel from the pool and repairing leaks around the walls. -There vas other work required at the baths, but unfortunately no financial provision had been made for it, and this work must necessarily stand over until the next financial year. The president (Mr W. A. Jenkins) said that tho council apparently thought there would be a recurring expense next year. If it would devise some means of preventing the sand from coming into the St. ClanBaths. however, the council would not be faced with this annual expense of cleaning out the pool. Mr Jenkins said he was sure the erection of a wall would be less costly than this annual cleaning out of the pool. There were two places where the sand came in, at the shallow and the deep end. “The City Council is largely to blame for the St. Clair Baths being a ‘white elephant,’ ” declared Mr Jenkins, “ because it allowed tbem to reach the state they are in.” He said that patrons would not use the hot plunge baths because of the condition they were in. The whole place needed renovating and painting. It would be a retrograde step if the St. Clair Baths were allowed to be closed. More would use the baths if they were kept in better condition and modernised. Mr G. H. Peat said that it would cost tho City Council less to construct a wall than tho present practice of cleaning out the pool annually. No effort had been made to keep sand out of the St. Clair Baths. A deputation consisting of Messrs W. A. Jenkins and B. F. Siraonsen was appointed to wait on the General Committee of the • City Council, and it was decided, if necessary, to enlist the aid of tho Otago Provincial Council of Sport to ensure that such an asset as tho baths to the city should not bo close.