LEARNING TO SWIM

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23200, 21 November 1938, Page 13

LEARNING TO SWIM

A THOKOUGH CAMPAIGN PLANS FOR PRESENT SEASON SPECIAL INSTRUCTION SCHEME Plans for conducting in New Zealand this summer the most thorough national campaign of instruction in swimming and life-saving yet promoted were agreed upon by representatives of tho major organisations concerned at a conference held in Wellington last Friday at the wish of the Minister of Internal Affairs, the Hon. W. E. Parry. Alarmed at the loss of life through drowning in the Dominion, the Minister asked the members of tho conference to submit recommendations for a wholly national scheme of teaching swimming and life-saving, especially to embrace people in remote country districts. After the conference the Minister announced that the Government would provide £3OOO toward putting the scheme proposed into operation immediately. Under this scheme it is hoped that 75,000 people will be taught to swim by the end of the summer. Suggestions were also adopted for educating the public in safety at bathing' places. Period ot Campaign The period of the campaign will be from November 1 to March 31 next, but district committees are recommended to concentrate on local efforts during February. It is proposed that free transport to the nearest instruction centre be provided for all those persons unable to swim who reside in districts where there are no bathing facilities. Local bodies, school authorities and others controlling such facilities are to be requested by the Minister to make these available free for the campaign daily from 9 a.m. to noon, 2 p.m. to 3 p.m., and 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., or at such alternative hours as may be convenient, and, throughout the campaign, to admit all instructors free to bathing facilities. The campaign will have the co-opera-tion of the press, and talks on swimming will be broadcast twice weekly. A quarter of a million pamphlets containing lessons in swimming and lifesaving and precautions advised for bathers will be published, and will be distributed among all schoolchildren before the summer holidays. Motion picture films on swimming and Jifesaving will be produced, and a sufficient quantity obtained to supply every school, in New Zealand withm a reasonable time. System of Patrols Efforts will be made to extend the system of patrols during the school holidays to all beaches not already protected, and safety areas will be indicated at all beaches and bathing places. The total prohibition was recommended of rubber floats and any craft considered dangerous, such as boats made of tin. Lectures and displays of all phases of life-saving will be given throughout the Dominion. A.n educational tour of the Dominion will be made by champion lady swimmers. No person shall be considered to have learned to swim through the campaign unless he can cover 25yds. While instruction will be offered to everyone, pupils of Standard IV. will receive special attention every year to ensure that they are all taught. The Minister of Education, the Hon. P. Fraser, is keenly interested in the campaign, and his department will ask education boards, school committees and staffs for their co-operation,, A recommendation of the conference was that qualified swimming and life-saving instructors should be appointed to the Education Department. Shortage of Baths The fact that there is a pronounced shortage of swimming baths in New Zealand was brought to the attention of the Minister of Internal Affairs aid he was asked to urge the local authorities concerned to rectify the matter. . The campaign will be controlled by /the National Committee of Swimming and Life-saving and its district branches. Tho chairman of the Auckland branch, Mr. T. C. Hobbs-Jones, said last night that the Government's grant of £3OOO was the fulfilment of many years of striving by the New Zealand Amateur Swimming Association for adequate State assistance .in teaching .swimming as a safeguard against drowning. "We shall be able to continue our work on an appropriately extensive scale," said Mr. HobbsJones. "This is a momentous occasion for the Dominion's swimming and lifesaving organisations."