RECORD OF PROGRESS

Taranaki Daily News, 22 February 1935, Page 9

RECORD OF PROGRESS

PROTECTION OF BEACHES BEGINNING 25 YEARS AGO 1 .. 11 ' FORMATION OF SURF ASSOCIATION The history of surf life-saving in New Zealand forms a narrative of heroic accomplishment and steady progress. In conjunction with the increasingly popular summer sport of surfbathing the movement has steadily developed until it has’now spread throughout the country, and, considered together with the fine work that is being accomplished in Australia, ranks among the greatest voluntary organisations of the workL The first life-saving club was formed in New Zealand in 1910, and at the present day there are 50 clubs with approximately 1500 trained life-savers. Last year over 100 rescues from drowning were made by the surf clubs and , recorded in their records, while assistance of a minor nature was rendered on numerous occasions and not recorded. A conservative estimate of the number of rescues made by the life-saving clubs since their formation in New Zealand is 2000, which figure represents the .truly , humane service being rendered to the surf-bathing public by the. clubs. Numerous cases of bathers getting into difficulties and not infrequent instances of drowning, in the infancy of surf-bathing as a popular pastime led to the formation at Lyall Bay, Wellington, of the Lyall Bay Surf Club in 1910, when a reel was ordered from the Manly Surf Club at Sydney. This was quickly followed by the formation of the Castlecliff Club at Wanganui, and the Maranui Club at Wellington, after which clubs sprang up on various beaches throughout New Zealand.

During the surf-bathing season beaches are regularly patrolled at week-ends and holidays by club members. A strict watch is kept on the bathers, and grave danger is often faced in effecting the rescue of persons in difficulties. There is no material reward for the work. The voluntary spirit in which it was inaugurated has been preserved throughout, and this is one feature that has placed the work on the high plane which it occupies to-day. Members are obliged to pay subscription ;fees for admission to clubs, and then have to go through tests'; and instruction leading to the examination first for the bronze medallion of the Royal Life-Saving Society, arid the stuff medallion of the Surf Association. Only when these have been secured can one be a fully-qualified life-saver eligible to take part in team work, patrols and competition work. For many years the work was sponsored and forwarded under the control of the Royal Life-Saving Society, and although this work was apart from its ordinary routine of still-water lifesaving, its various committees worked in no uncertain manner to encourage surf life-saving.

During the past few years the need for more clubs and more active life-savers has become more and more evident from a perusal of the accounts of drowning accidents on the country’s more popular beaches, and in 1932<'it was considered that it would be in the best interests of all if the control of the surf life-saving movement was vested in a special body which could concentrate solely on this phase =of life-saving work. With this view the Royal Life-Saving Society heartily concurred, and the result was the formation of the New Zealand Surf Life-Saving Association, under which some 50 clubs, representing every centre in the Dominion, are. Solidly united; The association functions as a. branch of the R.L.S.S., which now concentrates a good deal of its attention on spreading the knowledge of lifesaving amongst schools and colleges and the younger people generally. With the object of stimulating enthusiasm in the work inter-club carnivals are held regularly in all centres during the summer months. At these the members compete in life-saving events supplemented by swimming and beach races. The biggest event of the year is the national championship meeting, at which the best teams of each , centre are entered to compete for the coveted championship trophies. The competitive side of lifesaving, though not given undue prominence oyer the main function of patrol work, has achieved great prominence as a special form of sport, attracting huge crowds of spectators. The object of the carnivals is to improve the efficiency of members by strenuous inter-club competition, and incidentally to raise funds with which to carry on the work of the association.