SWIMMING BATHS

Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1607, 14 February 1925, Page 4

SWIMMING BATHS

OFFICIAL OPENING NEXT Tuesday.

GALA SPORTS IN EVENING.

' A function that should be well attended is the official opening of the Te Awamutu Swimming Baths on Tuesday afternoon next, at 3.30 p.m. for it marks the consummation of an effort in which most of the townspeople have been associated in various ways. So enthusiastic has been the, committee promoting the effort that we understand there is money in hand to pay for all the work already done. There is still need of funds to provide dressing room accommodation, etc., and if ratepayers in the town would only realise that by contributing freely the job can be done and paid for promptly, whereas had recourse been made to raising a loan for the whole work and striking a rate the property owners would have been paying every year for about thirty-six years practically as much as they are asked to pay this year to complete the whole scheme and hand it over to municipal control free of debt as a valuable asset to an up-to-date country town, and a facility to every dweller therein. The opening ceremony is to be performed by Mr F. Lye, M.P. for the district, and an open invitation is extended to the general public to be present. ' The contractor and his workmen have been working hard to have the bath and surroundings' ready for the occasion and a transformation has been effected within the past day or two. The high corrugated iron fence right round the premises should be finished to-day. The bath will probably be filled for the first time on Monday morning, and the sheet of water will give an observer an idea of thd capacity provided for swimming carnivals and for general enjoyment and recreation. On Tuesday evening a. swimming sports gala will be held, at which keen competition is bound to be witnessed. Quite a number of local swimmers (some of them no mean exponents of the art) have signified their intention to compete, while a very numerous contingent is coming from Hamilton, while a further team is expected from Cambridge. The visitors from Hamilton will include a team of seven or eight young ladies who will display their .abi.ity. The executive has prepared a very well varied programme of events for Tuesday evening’s gaia, and it is to be hoped that the general public will attend in full force. In this connection it may be here remarked that the Health Department’s edict prohibiting the assemblage of persons under .the age of sixteen years precludes juveniles attending either function on Tuesday, but the executive intends to arrange a function especially for the juveniles after the embargo is 'lifted. At a special meeting of the Borough Council last evening arrangements were discussed and finalised. Invitations to be present at the. opening ceremony are to be issued to the chairman of the Waipa County Council, the Mayors of Hamilton, Cambridge and Morrinsville, and chairmen of other local bodies. Our Otorohanga correspondent reports that a party of eight Waipa River swimmers contemplate competing in the open events at the swimming sports to be held in connection with the opening of the Te Awamutu municipal baths on Tuesday next.