DUNEDIN’S NUDIST CLUB

Greymouth Evening Star, 18 April 1939, Page 4

DUNEDIN’S NUDIST CLUB

FLOURISHES DESPITE WEATHER. Apart from a few occasions this Summer citizens have required courage to disport in the sea, and even then the plunge into the surf has been followed by the minimum amount of sunbathing. It has not been a season conducive to lying around with little clothing; certainly one woulu not think it a season in any way suitable for lying around with no clothes at all (says the Dunedin Star). Yet throughout the season a Garden of Eden has flourished in our midst. Quite a few points up on the famous home of Adam and Eve, too, for there the population was limifejl and the principal pastimes seemed to be eating apples and making fig leaves. In the Dunedin garden the population is quite large, and fig leaves are strictly taboo. So is anything else that suggests clothing; nudism is not nudism if a pocket handkerchief is used for any other purpose than blowing the nose, though where a nudist could keep a “hanky" offers a problem calling for some ingenuity. The nudist club, formed in Dunedin approximately 12 months ago, has flourished like the green bay tree, contrary to popular belief' that it died a natural death almost before it breathed. “Meetings" are held regularly, and all sorts of attractions are there for members, even see-saws and swings, which, one hopes sincerely, are completely splinter-proof. The male members are enabled to do a spot of gardening, and it is understood they derive far greater benefit from the exercise than when forced to wear singlet and trousers in their own backyard. Healthy games are indulged in between sexes, and everything possible is done to keep the society right up to the mark. Less active pursuits include, one learns, reading, knitting, card-playing. Vvhelho” reading or knitting in the “altogether" are attractive pursuits when one of Dunedin’s lazy winds arises and goes through, rather than around, a person., it is hard to say, but certainly one can see tremendous advantages .in playing cards in the nude. For instance, one’s opponent, no matter how sharp, would find it hard to bide a fifth ace up his sleeve. Where is this club? Somebody will ask that question sooner 'or later, but the answer is not for public betrayal. It exists—absolutely, positively, beyond doubt —but where, is another matter. It can be stated without, giving away .its locality (in any event that, knowledge is not possessed by this paper), that Hie site of the nudists’ home is on the hills, snugly secluded and open for inspection only by Old Sol —and possibly aviators. One gathers that even on the coldest | days the grounds are warm, but thati

conveys nothing. It is known, however, that a Waitati farmer was approached many mon Uns ago, to lease a portion of his ground containing some dense scrub for the purpose of establishing the nudist headquarters there. He declined. and it may or may not. be true that he has since regretted his action; However, that is not to be taken as rny indication, of the whereabouts of the club, and should not be responsible for a general exodus in the di-

rection of Waitati this week-end. The promoters of the club, and those in it, are prompted by motives of the utmost sincerity. They believe in what they are doing, and they are careful to give offence to no one. Nevertheless, the idea oi getting back to Nature these days when the first cold breaths of Winter are becoming apparent, would undoubtedly produce violent shudders on the part of most citizens before even so much as an overcoat was discarded.