WAIHI BATHS

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume XXXIV, Issue 8848, 28 November 1935, Page 3

WAIHI BATHS

;» IMPROVED FACILITIES SOUGHT • 3 9 ! 5 5 DEPUTATION TO COUNCIL 6 0 G " FURTHER GRANT MADE ), Seeking further improvements to 11 the municipal baths, a deputation from the Waihi Swimming Club — Messrs W. C. Collier, W. H. Stainton g and J. C. Hayward—waited on the j Borough Council at its monthly 4 meeting. 3 After the Mayor, Mr W. M. WallG nutt, had explained that the Works ~ Committee had been authorised to spend a certain amount —necessarily 3 limited by the state of the council’s finances—on the most essential work - required and the deputy-Mayor. Cr. 3 C. F. Butcher, had outlined the im- ’ provements the engineer had been instructed to carry out to ensure safety and some more comfort to patrons Mr Collier, opening for the deputation, said the baths had not been a very attractive proposition last year, with the result that swimmers had sought the amenities of the river.. The sacks used as doors to the cubicles had become ragged and, generally speaking, the baths were not such as to render the service the people were entitled to. The existence of a swimming club depended on what facilities were available A club should do everything in its power to attract young people tp the baths to learn the art of swimming, and in this connection it was interesting to note what the New Zealand Swimming Association had done and the progress that had been made in the saving of lives from drowning. Ten years ago drowning cases numbered 400, five years ago the loss of 1 life had been decreased by 15 per . cent., while the last statistics showed a decrease of 23 per cent, on the ( figures of ten years back. I TEACHING THE CHILDREN In Levin in 1916 he, the speaker, i was giving instruction in swimming and out of 460 young people only 15 j per cent, put up their hands as an in- ( dication that they could swim. ] Eight years later the per centage j had very substantially increased. r Everybody should learn to swim and the paths were the proper place at which to learn as they were under ' control and the danger of accident was thus practically eliminated. In - regard to the improvements required to the baths he would suggest that 1 the cubicles should have doors, 12 J inches from the floor, and 4 feet s high, that the baths be painted in- C side with some form of water paint, and that the seating accommodation and diving boards be put into good tl order so that the swimming club b could take the baths over and run t them to advantage. He would re- tl commend that the water should be C : treated with the formula known as tl H.T.H., a process of chlorination, c , which was used with great effect in n many other public baths, and was p harmless to the human body. It gave the water a limpid appearance, S( and the clearness would last for A weeks.

Mr Stainton, speaking for the school children, said swimming was a very Important part of the education of the young people; it was essential that all children should learn to swim, and with the facilities afforded by well-equipped baths they could easily acquire the art. He, himself, would not have anything to do with the children going' to the river pools, chiefly for safety reasons. In reply to a question, Mr Collier said the membership of the swimming club was about 80. Mr Hayward concurred with the views expressed by the two previous speakers. ASSISTANCE FROM COMPANY Cr. F. J, A. Campbell said he had recently received from Australia illuminating information with regard to the interest taken by employers of large concerns ip regard to providing swimming facilities for their employees. In Western Australia, for instance, the Great Boulder Mines had (Spent £20,000 to enable the miners to have the benefits of swimming baths, while the Broken Hill Company had spent 'in the vicinity of £15,000 for a similar purpose. Why not, he asked, approach Mr R. G. Milligan, the New Zealand director of the Martha Gold Mining Company, enlisting his sympathy in helping the community out with Improvements to the local baths. The water from the bottom levels of the mine was the finest asset the town had, and it could be brought into use for a comparatively small sum of money. If the council had the money he would advocate immediate action, but unfortunately it had not. Cr. J. Mitchell said he hoped what' he was going to say would not be misinterpreted by the swimming club representatives, who were to be commended for attempting what was going to be a very big job. He had served for 12 years on the old swimming club and during that period visitors had complimented the club on the equipment of the baths. The club, however, had found it difficult to keep its head above water as fai as the financial aspect was concerned and the baths had come to be regarded as a white elephant. The council had also made great efforts as far as the baths were , concerned, but with heartrending results.

FULL CONTROL TO CLUB

Cr. J. J. Callaghan said his experience with the baths had extended over about twenty years, and in the early days they had been a splendid asset .and numerically Waihi had had the strongest swimming club in the Auckland Province. He concurred with the views of the previous speaker, and felt that while the new swimming club deserved credit tor its laudable effort it had a hard task before it. He would have voted for (he closing of the' baths long since had he 1 not considered the interests qf. tjie schyql children. 'The deputation, after thanking the council for the frank manner in which members had spoken of their experiences ip the past, retired and the council, after discussion, decided to give the Waihi Swimming Club full control of the baths for one year, and in addition to the amount of £l2 10s already voted to donate a similar amount to the club to be taken from the £GO previously placed on the estimates. The town clerk, Mr E. C. West-

bury, pointed out that while the council had the power to hand over, the control of the baths to the, cltiU. it still had to fix the fees and It waa decided that the annual subscription for adults be 5», season tickets for children is and a single admission for a child Id.