KAWHIA LIFE REELS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20819, 11 March 1931, Page 14

KAWHIA LIFE REELS.

Rir> About two years ago there w;u a drowning accident at the Kawhia hot springs. If there had been a life-saving reel, or even a few chains of ropo handy, two valuable lives would have been fiaved. The visitors and residents of Kawhia held a meeting and decided to canvass the town.and the to raise enough money to purchase life reels and build shelters to cover, them. A very substantial amount was collected, somewhere in the vicinity of £BO or £9). I believe. Later" on two life-saving reels were bought and after lying about Kawhia for some time, one was taken to Te Maika and left at the late Mr. Ihos. Good fellow's house at the beach. The other was taken to the hot a f.;w sheets of iron were nailed over it "just temporarily" until the permanent shelter was built. This, I may say, was over 14 months ago. The writer recently visited Kawhia, and, being a subscriber to the fund and greatly interested in life-saving, made a special visit to the ocean beach to see what had been done with the reels and housing them. To my great surprise I found the reel at To Maika, lying out in the open paddock alongside Mr. Goodfellow's house, which has born pulled down, just a few sheets of old iron partly covering it, sometimes on and sometimes blown off, rusting and deteriorating. The other reel was at (lie springs,' with the covering blown away, open to all weather, salt, spray, and rusting and rotting in the sand. Even now, if there was an accident, it is impossible 'to use it. What I would like to know, as one of the subscribers, is what has been done with the money collected ? Why have not the shelters been built as arranged'! Quite u number of the visitors are disgusted the way tilings are being handled and I think it is only' fa.r to those in charge to call a meeting and get things settled at once. I know Kawhia has got the taihoa feeling, but surely there is life enough left in seine of them to see that the life reels ar» housed and well greased and oilec ; in fact, it would ba better to bring them back to Kawhia and have them fixed up and kept under cover until next summer. In the meantime shelters may be built. It seems a crying shame that such valuable life-saving reels should be allowed to rust and rot on the beach. Trusting a move will be made at once to hav« the reels covered and attended to. Disgusted Subsciubisu