Child Gashed by Broken Bottle on Blaketown Beach

Grey River Argus, 20 January 1948, Page 4

Child Gashed by Broken Bottle on Blaketown Beach

With the warm spell of the last two days and the temperature at 71.6 degrees yesterday, hundreds of people have flocked to Greymouth s beaches, some to swim, others to bathe in the sun, and others still to just sit and read, or watch the activity around them. Apparently, however, nocturnal visits to the beach have increased in popularity too. A small child. who ran along the beach at Blaketown yesterday suffered several severe gashes to her foot when she stepped on pieces of broken bottle hidden in the sand. There had apnarentlv recently been a party and the merrymakers, not content with emntying the contents of several bottles, thought that they would comolete the job and “finish” the bottle as well. As a result, one of the few stretches of clear sand on the Blaketown beach has been rendered unsafe for many people and a worse feature is, that few people know of the existence of the glass, for a slight covering of sand has well hidden it. Shortly before Christmas the Surf Life Saving Club had occasion to complain to this newspaper about the breaking of bottles on the beach at Blaketown, which have at times delayed rescue work. On this former occasion the bottles had been smashed and strewn all around the only log available for people to sit on and have picnics, and in the main bathing area. On the Cobden beach the menace is present too, although not as evidently as at Blaketown. Cn Sunday last,' several cordial bottles were broken in the area most frequented by visitors to the beach, and these will remain a danger for some time to come.

In the past several people have sustained severe injuries from the irresponsible breaking of bottles on beaches and river banks and .yesterday’s incident should deter the wrongdoers.