SCHOOLS AND SWIMMING.

Southland Times, Issue 20949, 5 December 1929, Page 9

SCHOOLS AND SWIMMING.

To the Editor. Sir, —I have noticed in a recent issue of your paper a letter under the above heading signed “Not in the Know.” From the language in which the letter is couched, I gather that the writer speaks for others as well as himself. It is unfortunate that he should have permitted the taunts of a misplaced sarcasm to obstrude so largely into a complaint that contains so much real merit. The “august personage” to whom he refers is the accredited officer of this association in the Southland district. Like other honorary education officers of this association in other parts of New Zealand he has devoted his leisure time to spreading a knowledge of swimming among the school children. It. is a task that entails a tremendous amount of work, and brings no reward other than the recognition (which the schools in other centres give our educational officers) by the schools of the efforts put forth in their behalf.

To suggest that sole teacher schools are not worthy of Mr Dunlop’s notice, or that he would not give them all the encouragement that lies in his power is ridiculous. A glance through the report giving the lists of schools throughout New Zealand to which certificates were issued last season will, I am sure, convince you, Mr Editor, that sole teacher schools are not being neglected. In the 1927-28 season the Davies Shield (for the school gaining the best percentage of certificates) was won by the Russell School (a one teacher school); in the past season, the trophy was won by Te Werenga School (another one teacher school). If “Not in the Know” will kindly communicate with Mr Dunlop (whose* address is Southland Boys’ High School) or with myself he will promptly be put “in the know.”

Both Mr Dunlop and myself are aware that swimming is being taught by school teachers under very adverse conditions in Southland, as in other parts of New Zealand. Nothing could provide a better testimony to the real regard that teachers pay to the welfare of their pupils than the work that so many of them have accomplished in this respect. All the efforts of the educational officers of this association have been devoted for years past to letting ALL teachers know about swimming certificates. When the office of educational officer was first instituted a-few years ago the greatest number of certificates that had been issued to school children in any one season was 5388. Last season 15,836 certificates were issued. The figures speak for themselves. With your permission I will answer the questions with which “Not in the Know” concludes his letter:

1. “Who let the headmaster of the Queenstown School into the secret?” —It is no secret. The very widest publicity, and not secrecy, is what Mr Dunlop and this association are aiming at. 2. “Has the Southland Swimming Centre really done anything to encourage swimming in country schools?”—The Southland Swimming Centre was constituted by the New Zealand Council on September 19, 1929. That is less than three months ago. Perhaps, at the end of its first summer season “Not in the Know” will be able to supply a highly satisfactory answer for himself. (I hope he will be a good sport and do it, for I feel sure he will have cause.) Prior to the formation for the Southland Centre, the district was under the jurisdiction of the Otago Centre, with headquarters in Dunedin. 3. “What has Mr Dunlop accomplished to merit the title of ‘Educational Officer’?”— Mr Dunlop during his residence in Dunedin a year or two back was a most efficient educational officer for that centre, and was responsible for raising the figures for that centre from a very moderate scale to dimensions that the centre had every reason to be proud of. I hope “Not in the Know” will lose no time in getting into communication with either Mr Dunlop or myself, and, further, that he will assist the good work by giving information to any other school which may have been inadvertently overlooked. As a result of the work that this association is doing the proportion of school children being taught to swim in the schools of the Dominion is higher than in any other part, of the world. We would like to improve that record still further by adding to our figures for the coming year the children of “Not in the Know’s” school and those of any other school that may be similarly circumstanced. —I am, etc., B. O’NEILL, Hon. Secretary, New Zealand Amateur Swimming Association. P.O. Box 391, Christchurch.