SWIMMING

Southland Times, Issue 21820, 24 September 1932, Page 14

SWIMMING

(By “

“Trudgeon.”)

Murihiku are to be congratulated on making the first move for a carnival. They have applied for the night of Labour Day and they could not have chosen a better night. There should be a good attendance, but it cannot be expected that the swimming will be of a high order, owing to the earliness of the fixture.

Murihiku are one of the lucky clubs. Their balance-sheet shows a healthy credit of over £27. There is no object in any club hoarding money so Murihiku propose to give their members the benefit. Subscriptions have been reduced, a lead that might well be followed where possible by other clubs.

Season tickets to the Baths cost £l, but in the case of club members the charge is reduced to 17/-. The City Council requested all the clubs to charge a uniform subscription of 3/-, which means that any club’s member practically receives his subscription for nothing. For this reason was thought impossible for Murihiku to reduce their subscriptions. They did, however, and they are to be congratulated. As one member stated, salaries had been cut and so should expenses. The best way the council can advance swimming is to encourage swimmers to join clubs and they should get a bigger concession. Murihiku had a large balance and if they had followed the council’s dictum they would have continued to pile up money.

As the New Zealand intermediate and junior championships are to be held in January, the Southland centre will have to hold the provincial championships before Christmas. Swimmers will have to commence training early. It would be a good idea if some of the other clubs held early carnivals to give them a chance.

The annual meeting of the centre is to be held on Thursday evening. A number of important matters will come up for consideration, not the least of them being a point regarding the centre's constitution. This concerns the position of the president. Undei’ the present rules the president is not necessarily chairman, or even a member, of the executive. The executive meets and elects its chairman. The president in office, Mr Dunlop, happens to- be chairman of the executive. Some of the delegates want the rule altered to make the president ex officio chairman of the executive. This is hardly necessary. On the majority of bodies a similar rule applies. If the executive desire the president’s services it is competent for them to elect him. On the other hand there may be a man possessing desirable qualifications for the presidency who may not have time to attend all the meetings. In such circumstances no harm would be done in electing him to the presidency and appointing a separate chairman. At present the rule is elastic and it would be a mistake to make it binding. Quite an enviable record was gained by Ex-Pupils last season. They were the first, team to win the centre’s water polo shield and they also won the flying squadron relay race and the Otatara campers’ memorial shield. The club set. an example of cultivating the social side by holding a successful dance.

This season the majority of the clubs seem to have decided to cultivate the social side. Murihiku intend to hold a picnic at the beach and Ex-Pupils have the same idea in view. The educational work of the centre has, during the past two of three seasons, shown that there is considerable keenness among the young people in Gore. Two pupils of the Gore High School actually came to Invercargill to undergo the test for their certificates in the Municipal Baths. Their keenness is of no use at present, however, because they lack the facilities in Gore to carry on. The town does not possess municipal baths and apparently there is no available water adjacent. Last season there was a demand for the provision of a suitable pool

and so keen was the enthusiasm that a club was formed. An offer to provide water was made to the Borough C >uncil by Fleming and Company, but no action was taken with the exception of a donation to the club. There is enough material in Gore for the formation of two or even three, clubs, in which case it is likely a sub-centre would be formed. If it is keen to expand its activities the Southland Centre should take up the cudgels on behalf of the. Gore swimmers and launch a campaign to gain public support. That was how the Invercargill Baths came into existence.

Ex-pupils, the first holders, will be called upon to fight hard in defence of the water polo shield this season. Interest in this branch promises to be keener than ever and it promises to be a feature of club hours. Ex-pupils intend to stage a match between their senior and junior members. It would be an excellent move to stage some impromptu matches at the conclusion of the New Zealand Championships. Teams representing the North and South Islands could be picked from among the competitors, if there were not sufficient present to pick a number of provincial teams.