SURF DANGERS

Southland Times, Issue 19462, 29 January 1925, Page 2

SURF DANGERS

WARNINGS DISREGARDED. POWERS OF BEACH INSPECTORS. “This has been one of the most strenuous seasons, from the point of view of rescues, that the clubs have ever experienied,” remarked Mr B. S. Knox at a meeting of the Canterbury Surf and LifeSaving Association, on Monday evening. “And,” he added, ‘1 think that the North Beach Club has had a more strenuous time than during any other period of ite existence, and it has come through it with flying colours.” Mr Knox said that it was the uninitiated persons who got into trouble, not the residents. According to the newspaper reports, the young lady who got into trouble at North Beach on Sunday had been warned by one of the men who helped to rescue her. Mr R. Snell: She was warned three times. Mr Knox: These beach inspectors want some further power. If a person, after being warned, goes into the water, I think the inspectors should have power to prosecute and make an example. We know that in the past we have had to rely, to a certain extent, on bluff. Mr C .A. Cooper said that he had discussed the matter with the Mayor of New Brighton, who told him that the Borough Council had no jurisdiction. It could not be done by means of a by-law; legislation by Parliament would be necessary. It was decided to ask the Sumner and New Brighton Borough Councils what authority beach inspectors possessed in respect of persons neglecting their warnings.