Jetty Jotting's.

Southern Cross, Volume 4, Issue 2, 11 April 1896, Page 7

Jetty Jotting's.

(By Rambler.)

“ Come down to the jetty ; I want to show you something,” Thus Croucher the other day. Croucher ? Not know Croucher! I thought everybody knew him. Not to know him is to argue yourself unknown, or next doort(>it. Why, you can’t go to a meeting of the Ambulance Association, of the Cycling or Rowing Clubs, and several other of our local institutions, without bobbing up against him. His intimates have dubbed him “The Doctor,” he is so ready, so suggestive, so resourceful. He prides himself before everything else in being an “ambulance” man. See him at a football match or other athletic gathering. Think he’s enjoying the game like the other fellows ? Not a bit of it. The chances are that if you could bring tbe “ new photography ” to bear on his mental machinery you would find that he was speculating as to the chances of an accident occurring, and considering the best means of getting the sufferer to the hospital. But this is by the way. The “ something ” our genial friend wished to show me proved to be the new baths recently constructed on the foreshore. They stand a short distance to the north-east of the jetty, and put that weather-beaten structure to shame. The veteran has, however, tried to cultivate a more up-to-date look, in deference, no doubt to his new and stylish neighbour. Some kindly hands have been at work, and replaced a number of the worn-out planks with new ones. The baths, with their three turrets, iron roof, and spacious skylights, present a very taking external appearance, and are a decided acquisition architecturally. The interior does not belie the fair outside. The baths consist of a concrete of water, when filled, ranging from 3ft 6in to 7ft 6in. The workmanship and material appear to be of the best, and the structure, as a whole, reflects credit on the architect (Mr W. Sharp) and the contractor (Mr Menzies). The entrance to the building is at the eastern end, and here also are the caretaker’s rooms and the ticket offices. The northern side is occupied by eight dressing rooms, together with two private apartments for hot or cold baths. Part of the space at the western end is devoted to a room for shower baths, and, generally speaking, patrons will find that no pains have been spared to promote their comfort and convenience. The water is brought from the estuary by pipes running into a well on the northern side of the building, into which it will be pumped, means of exit being provided' at the western end. The pumping machinery has not yet been obtained, but it is to be hoped that this will not long be wanting. The site was granted by the borough council, which also voted £250 towards the cost, and the balance of the outlay—between £SOO and £6O0 —is being raised by the sale of debentures. The baths are the outcome of a lot of energy and persistent agitation on the part of Messrs J. Kingsland. P. H. Miller, J. Fisher, J. Black, Croucher, and others, who are to be complimented on the result of their labours. Some people deserve success, but don’t achieve it. Our friends have both deserved and achieved. They have, in conjunction with the City Fathers, removed the reproach that attached to Invercargill as a town without public baths. The only regrettable feature about them is their distance —they should have occupied part of the ground known as the market reserve. That, however, will scarcely militate against the success of our youngest institution.

Having duly admired the arrangements, and listened to an explanation of the system on which the baths were to be worked, I was about to leave when the irrepressible Croucher, like Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner, fixed me with his glittering eye, and on the plea of having ‘ something more ’ to show, persuaded me to have a walk along the jetty. When I

made my first acquaintance with the jetty the masts of the vessels frequenting it were thick in the river, and all was bustle and excitement. Now the shipping was represented by the lighter that had brought a load of rubble from the Greenhills quarries for the half-dozen men who busily converting it into road metal a short distance from the head of the jetty — it was not one of the days on which the s. s. Invercargill brightens things up a bit by her weekly trip. The dredge obtained some years ago when harbour improvements were the rage added to the air of ‘ has beenness ’ that strikes the visitor, for the dredge is in the ranks of the unemployed, and likely to remain there unless ‘something turns up.’ Meanwhile it is a mute reminder of past efforts to push the place ahead. Going on, we spy Mr Hay’s steam launch, and not far off a ‘ foreigner ’ in the shape of the Bluff Harbour Board’s Dispatch. Stepping on board, we found Mr J. K. Jameson putting the finishing touches to the vessel. Mr Jameson was the successful tenderer for repairs, which included the replacing of the old boiler with a new one, and a new crank shaft for the engine. He has, in fact, given the Dispatch a new lease of life, and she ought to render good service to her owners for the outlay incurred. Nothing in the engineering line comes amiss to Jameson, but he appears to have a partiality for boilers; —he takes to them as naturally as a monkey to nuts. The steamers on lakes Manipouri and Te Anau are fitted with boilers from his establishraet, and the one made for the Dispatch is the largest he has yet turned out. May he never lack boilers to make is the best I can wish him. ‘ There !’ I remarked to ‘ The Doctor ’ as I returned to the jetty, ‘ that completes your sights, I suppose P’ ‘Not a bit of it,’ he replied, and forthwith brought me into a shed filled with boats and rowing paraphernalia, the headquarters of the I.R.C. Then I heard about the enthusiasm with which aquatic pastimes were now pursued, was shown the different boats owned by the Club, and bidden to admire —no effort was required their latest acquisition in the shape of a clinkerbuilt outrigger from Norton of Wellington. This exhausted my friend’s stock of ‘lions,’ and we parted with a promise to meet some other day.