THE SUMMER DEATH

Putaruru Press, Volume XVI, Issue 957, 20 November 1941, Page 4

THE SUMMER DEATH

With the approach of summer and Die commencement of the bathing season the startling figures revealed

in the comparative analysis of drowning and fatal motor accidents released recently by the National Committee of Swimming and Lifesaving should he carefully studied. The analysis shows that in the October-March period for the last 10 years 848 drownings and 844 fatal motor accidents have occurred in New Zealand. No one will question the committee’s comment that the report clearly indicates the need for greater educational work in swimming and life-saving. The committee also declared its belief that, if the number of drowning accidents is to be reduced, it is necessary to have swimming compulsorily taught in the schools and to provide the tuition pools for the purpose. Most parents are satisfied, once their children have learned to swim, to leave it at that; but they should be brought to realise that to swim is good but to swim well is a great deal better. Many of those who drown during the bathing season are not non-swimmers but poor swimme-s Boys and girls who have just learned to swim place themselves in greater danger through over-confidence than the non-swim-mers, who take few risks; and on the' beaches they add to the anxieties and perils of members of lifesaving clubs.

It is therefore essential that children shou’d be encouraged, in the safety of their school swimming pools, to practise until they become strong swimmers before they are permitted to venture, unescorted, into the more difficult conditions of the sea or the rivers. Parents should recognise that no sport moTe evenly and strongly develops the human frame than swimming. Almost equally important is training in life-saving and resuscitation. If someone in every party of swimmers were a skilled life-saver, a tremendous reduction in the number of drownings would follow. The putol’c owe a debt of gratitude to the members of swimming and life-saving organisations who have, though poorly encouraged and poorly financed, carried on their valuable educational work over a long period of years. The Minister for Internal Affairs, the Hon. W. E. Parry, remarked, in comment on the report above-mentioned, “The societies have a fair claim to assistance from the Government, insurance companies, local bodies, and the public.” That is an under-statement. The societies have established a definite right to assistance and active encouragement. They should have both without the need .to beg for them. Hawke’s Bay Tribune.