SWIMMING TUITION

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20637, 18 August 1941, Page 7

SWIMMING TUITION

N.Z. SCHOOL CHILDREN RECORD NUMBER TAUGHT (Spticial to the Herald.) WELLINGTON, this day. Swimming instruction to the school children of the Dominion conducted by the New Zealand Amateur Swimming Association on financial aid front the Government achieved a record in the number of children obtaining certificates for 1940-41. In an advance summary of the annual report of the association, received to-day by the Minister o! Internal Affairs, the Hon. W. E. Parry, from the hon. secretary, Mr. Baxter O’Neill, it was shown that 33,425 school children had been certified as being proficient swimmers during last season Since the swimming campaign among school children was started four years ago, altogether 118,865 proficiency certificates had been issued. The growth and success of the campaign were revealed in the following return:—Season 1937-38, 32,002 certificates issued; 1938-39, 33,052; 1939-40, 20,386; 2940-41, 33,425. “The money approved by the Government to encourage the noble and useful art of swimming among the young people of the Dominion,” Mr. Barry commented, “has produced splendid results. Such figures as these must ere long make their influence felt in reducing the annual drowning rate in the Dominion.” .