ST. CLAIR BATHS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24721, 25 September 1941, Page 6

ST. CLAIR BATHS

PROPOSAL TO LEASE PROTEST BY COUNCIL OF SPORT A protest against the proposal of the City Council to lease the St. ClanBaths to private enterprise was made at the quarterly meeting of the Otago Provincial Council of Sport last night, and a small deputation was appointed to wait on the council to express the organisation’s views on the matter, ivu W. A. Jenkins (president) occupied the chair. ... ~ ' The subject was introduced by.Mr A. McMillan, who strongly criticised the proposal of the City Council to lease the baths to private enterprise Such a proposal, he said, showed that the council had failed in its control, and he felt that the handing over of the baths to private enterprise was not in the best interests of the community. It should not be a question of money, he added, but one of ensuring that the baths were beneficial to the public. In the past. Mr McMillan continued, the St. Clair Baths had been most unattractive. and no one seemed to take any interest in them. He described the stale of the baths and buildings last summer as deplorable. Why should a private enterprise be able to make more out of them, he asked, than the City Council? Mr S. C. Ringrose said that all swimming facilities in Dunedin should be •under the control of the City Council. It was not right that the St. Clair Baths should be leased, he said. The council should carry on and do the job that it was there to do. He moved that a protest be made to the City Council against the proposal to lease the baths to private enterprise, and that it be urged that they should be carried on by the council for the benefit of the community as a whole. Miss R. McKenzie seconded the motion, which was carried.

Mr F. C. Isaacs suggested that a deputation should be appointed to wait on the City Council to protest against the proposal. A private person, he said, would not keep the pool in good order. It would be preferable, he said, for the council to put the pool in order and place a man in charge who could teach swimming, particularly ns there were several schools in the district.

Mr McMillan moved that a deputation should be appointed to wait on the council. Messrs Jenkins, Isaacs and D. C. Bannatyne were appointed as a deputation.