Baths.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 999, 24 April 1891, Page 4

Baths.

4 From information received,’ as the stolid policeman always Bays in tbo witness box, I have faith to believe that before another summer overtakes us we shall be favoured in this Empire city with public baths, worthy of the name. A wealthy syndicate have taken the matter up and there appears no difficulty in raising the £IO,OOO which will be required to establish the baths on a proper footing. I hear the baths are to be on an extended scale. A swimming bath, sometimes fresh, and sometimes salt water, always kept at a comfortable temperature hot. and cold private baths, Russian and Turkish baths, a complete set of appliances for the hydropathic treatmeut as practiced at MatlocU, and other luxuries too numerous to mentiou. Wellington will then be a city really worth living in, with public baths of this description. Haw it makes one’s mouth water to read of the glories of the ancient citv of Alexandria, in Egypt, who, in her palmy days possessed 400 public libraries and no fewer than 4000 public baths, and here in this so called enlightened nineteenth century, in the capital city of this Brighter Briton of the South, wo do not possess as yet even one public library, or one public batb. And yet one would think at times, when our citizens’ eloquence is flung broad oast that we were really the most clever and enlightened people on the face of the globe. True we may be clever in developing our frozen meat trade, and in encouraging tiia export of butter and cheese. But somehow or another our cleverness is not shown in special matters appertaining to our social comfort, health, or recreation.

As a rule the bath rooms in our private houses are the reverse of decent. I saw one the other day, a dark closet shut up in a corner. No light save what filtered from a back room through not overclean frosted glass, no ventilation, a dismal, dark, stuffy hole. A bath should be enjoyable, but how one could extract pleasure out of such a miserable apology for a bath room I cannot imagine. Every bath room should not only be woll ventilated but well lighted. One enjoys a bath ao much the better when the window can be opened and the reviving rays of the early morning sun can warm and stimulate tha skin whose pores have been freshly opened. What is more delicious thau to feel the warm balmy spring breezes blowing -softly around and on you, as you stand red 4 with the friction of your rough towel. I am afraid colonial builders have yet to learn how to build bath-rooms of the truly luxurious style. One lately built for a Baltimore (LT.S.A.) lady has the walls panelled with ouyx in various shades with a deep wainscotting of the same, ornamented with mouldings of hrass. From the onyx ceiling hang queer little lanterns of crystal glass framed in gold mountings. The bath itself is of fine porcelain with designs of water lilies in relief, painted in natural colours. The faucets are heavily gilt, and so also are a little Pompeiian cup and bowls for the soap and brushes. On the shelf of onyx, beneath a wall embedded mirror, stand flacons of cut crystal with gold mounts, containing perfumes and dentifrices. On each side are brass arms holding the towels. Small bags of silk contain almond meal which is used to perfume and soften the wat6r of the bath. A Roman bench-like couch also of onyx exquisitely carved, has near by a coil of golden broDze tubes, through which steam passes to temper the atmospheie of the room for itß lovely occupant while she reclines after her plunge in the water. Coloured glass windows throw a soft subdued and picturesque light upou the bath. What a pity we cannot all be rich Americans to have all these luxuries, ah, me ! But hope springs ahead ; a few months more and we shall be blessed with what we have long required—a sensible set of public baths. Dora.