THE SUMMER SPIRIT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20474, 28 January 1930, Page 8

THE SUMMER SPIRIT.

StJN GOD SMILES AT lAST.

FOUR DAYS OR BASKING.

JOY ON THE BEACHES.

The .sun god has smiled. For fouT days Aucklanders have basked and rejoiced and with them the plants r.nd animals and birds and insects. And the mosquito is announced by his advanced guard. A famous doctor recently declared that sun worship would be thja last religion t-o decay, meaning that sunbathing would never suffer the fate of fashion. Auckland shouts a glad " Hear, hear.''

We speak of the people flocking back to the beaches the moment there is any real summer but bathing is only half the lure. They want some sunshine in their blood and the right to disrobe and feel the living sun-drenched air upon their skin.

It was astonishing to find on the beaches during the week-end so many young people who are already browned and imprevious- to sunburn. Probably they belong to the sturdy brigade which bathes in any weather from the time fbo winter sting leaves the water. Maybe they have become so thoroughly tanned every summer since they were carried as babes to the sea that it never fades. But brown they are and, who knows? their distant descendants, should they keep to the habit, might become -"'coloured " folk. The Browning of the Boy.

The boy sculling the six-foot boat was a beautiful' bronze to the waist. No two-piece bathing costume for him. It is possible, of course, that he has expedited the process by the aid of cocoa-

nut oil for it seems to be a point of honour among the holiday-making lads, to " brown-up" in the quickest time without peeling. The fair white skin of the youth who is only now taking the sea and sun is rather an' outsider, and to remove this cauSe of social offence he perches himself on the most exposed : rock and hopes fervently that colour will come even at the expense of blisters. Ha is not in the least concerned about the gradual devielopment of the ultraviolent ray treatment. He simply follows instinct and the> crowd. The afternoon tides suited the citygide people admirably. There was no need to seek the baths, though they were crowded, nor to journey to the outer shores. All the shallows were deep and clear and as usual under these conditions, acquatic traffic was thick and various. The canoe with its juvenile crew paddled miles along the shores, pausing at th© bays to shout a word to the inevitable schoolmate on the sand, The single andl double skulls of the boating clubs padldled along, a picture of grace to which the white sails of the yachts made an admirable background. Extreme Selfishness. Sunday had only one blemish along some of the shores, and it was supplied by boats with roaring outboard engines. These rowdy craft, which rarely seem to cruise away from the bathing beaches, are a thorough pest. The noise of the engine can wake sleeping people half-a-mile away, unless there is a silencer attached, and one boat can distrub not only the bathers, but thousands 1 of people living in proximity to the, waterfront. Bed-ridden people find them most objectionable, arid it is obvious that-they must be " controlled." These craft are as bad a nuisance as the motor-cycles which, with open exhausts, roar through the suburbs late at night. They stand for extreme selfishness, and must be silenced. At one of the city bays it was noticeable that a speed boat did not make onti-quarter of the noise of an outboard motor boat, which spent the - afternoon running rourtd in so narrow a radius that there was no respite for the neighbourhood. Comely Miss Auckland. Miss Auckland bestowed generous, patronage upon the beaches. She looked veiry smart indeed. She carries out coloui schemes in costume and cap these days, and if she sometimes runs " to the skintight style the generous thing to believe is that she is growing very rapidly, and that last year's costume is still doing duty. At the same time it must be admitted that she rather enjoys the opportunity of tripping in the footsteps of her fcitiema itar—and an audience. But who can blame her ? It is part of her m:. heritance. Anyway she is a better man in the water than her mother, and usually her father, and often her brother. And when it comes to a rough and tumblo bit of fun on the sand she occasionally demonstrates a skill at the catch-as-catch-can method of wrestling that is quitu humiliating to her escort. A vigorous, little girl and comely. The beach would be drab without her, even on a pertec - dav. , Assured by the few days of J" 3 " 1 weather that the clay roads would b« passable, many motorists left the beaten track. Some of them did not know when! they were going, but they were on « way, and the aggregate miles measured gallons will bring joy to the bowser men. They deplore wet week-ends.

The Summer Motor. It is apparent that the motorist of these davs does not worry about the costum conventions. Once he religiously wore a dust coat. To-day, as often as not, hdiscards a coat, rolls up his shirt-sleeves, and " steps on it" with canvas One man yesterday went out in » hocdle. car wearing a huge beach hat ta Lots of the bathing people drovelotfnj beaches in bathing costume, and if the if brightness -was any indication Ot ■ tnc« feelings thev must have been JO} u - deed. This'sort of thing is the suwnu. spirit, and particularly the Auckland .uit mer spirit, Motoring about the streets n bathing costume is not done in cities. As a matter of fact it has b . the custom for people to stroll through '• waterfront suburbs to the bathing dress, which is a very conmon sense proceeding. One man, aft bathe, often sets about changing. The cult of sun-basking here to stay.