SWIMMING BATHS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22353, 26 February 1936, Page 16

SWIMMING BATHS

grammar school need INSTRUCTION OF BOYS HEADMASTER'S VIEWS The urgent need for a swimming bath at the Auckland Grammar School, •where boys could be taught not only swimming but also the principles of life-saving, was emphasised by Mr. C. M. Littlejohn, headmaster of the school, at a luncheon tendered to him by the Old Boys' Association at Milne and Choyce's Reception Hall yesterday. Later Mr. T. C. Webb, one of the vicepresidents, announced that an anonymous donor had given £SO to start a fund. " This lack is most serious, and I might mention that the teaching of swimming, and the turning out every year of a number of boys proficient in life-saving, is one of the greatest duties we as et&cationists have to face," Mr. Littlejohn said. Although it might seem remarkablfi, with so many beaches within easy reach, 10 per cent of the boys who entered the school this year could not swim a stroke, and 40 per cent were inefficient in swimming, and could not save themselves if the necessity arose. This was a serious state of affairs, and he ventured to state that this fact alone was sufficient to justify a move for the provision of baths at the school. At the conclusion of Mr. Littlejohn's address, Mr. Webb said that the need mentioned by the headmaster should give the Old Boys' Association an object for which to strive.