SAFETY ON BEACHES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21398, 24 January 1933, Page 10

SAFETY ON BEACHES

WEST COAST CONDITIONS

WARNING SIGNS NEEDED DUTY OF LOCAL AUTHORITY The romarks of the coroner, Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M., upon the need for safety measures at Ivarekare, Piha and other west coast surf beaches, in view of two recont fatalities, were strongly endorsed yesterday by a representative of the Royal Life-Saving Society. "The Auckland centre of the society has now arranged for patrols at all tho chief bathing beaches near Auckland, including Motuihi and Waiheke," he said. "It has also been considering what it can do to protect surf-bathers on the west coast, which is becoming very much frequented. "A first step, as Mr. Hunt suggests, undoubtedly is to have the principal beaches signposted, and we consider that is definitely the responsibility of the local authority. The notice-boards should mark those parts of the beaches which are definitely unsafe for bathing and those parts which aro safe if proper care is used. They should also warn bathers of the danger of going into the water at low tido. It would be better still if it were possible to prohibit all persons from bathing on portions of the beaches not marked as safo. I ain satisfied that such precautions as these alone would prevent 80 per cent of the fatalities that occur on New Zealand surf beaches to-day." Apparatus Needs Experts As regards life-saving equipment, this authority said that he was not quite in accord with tho coroner. To operate a life-line and reel it was necessary to have at least two, or better three, experienced men, including one who knew the art of swimming through surf with a belt round him and the line attached. Without such men it was impossible to do any good with the apparatus and a complete novice in the belt stood an excellent chance of being drowned. Tho Royal Life-Saving Society could not patrol tho west coast beaches, but it had offered to send lifeguards with picnics or other largo parties of visitors when application was made for them, much as the St. John Ambulance Brigade sent first-aid men to sports gatherings*

As regards the beaches themselves, some portions were unsafe for the reason that they shelved too rapidly. Others suffered from a "cross-set," due to rocks or other obstacles deflecting the tidecurrents and helping to produce an undertow. The safe portions were flat and well away from interfering rocks. For these Tcasons Muriwai Beach was much safer than parts of Piha Beach, where the surf was not so heavy. Dangers at Low Water

It was very important that inexperienced bathers should be warned against going in at low water. The reason for this was that the average beach shelved more sharply from about the line where, at high tide, the surf began to break. At low tide, this part would be about waistdeep, and the surf there would normally bo less pronounced than at high tide, concealing most probably a fairly heavy backwash. Many ignorant or careless people had got into trouble or lost their lives in this way. Other general rules of value were that swimmers should on no account go out beyond the breakers unless they knew how to ride in upon them. This was not a difficult art, but it had to be properly learned with the help of experts. Nonswimmers should on no account go out beyond waist-deep, otherwise a breaker could easily lift them ont of their depth. This was the cause of the comparatively few surf fatalities that occurred among children.