LEARNING TO SWIM

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 49, 13 November 1946, Page 5

LEARNING TO SWIM

TWO POOLS SUGGESTED

LANDING ROAD AND HEADS

With the Berough Council willing and keen to co-operate with the Harbour Board on the matter of creating- swimming pools within the Borough for the purpose of swimming instruction for the young, and the promotion of swimming sports, a joint committee has been set up and is using its best endeav-

ours to bring the whole subject to a head in time for the warmer months when the facilities may be utilised for the purpose for which they were created.

At a recent meeting of the joint committee, the chairman (Mr H. G. Warren) advised that the site adjacent to Bi~idgers’ Warehouse and the yacht wharf was, from the point of view of health, unsuitable as a Swimming Pool site as it was in the vicinity of the. outlet of sewerage from business premises. Mr C. H. Brebner (County Engineer) stated that the pool at the Heads could be considerably improved by excavation with a drag line and that the Harbour Board would be prepared to take all spoil from the excavation. The committee, was of the opinion that while the Heads site was very desirable, it-was. also desirable to have a swimming pool in close proximity to the residential area.

The meeting decided that steps be taken to construct temporary swimming pools both at the Heads and in the vicinity of Landing Road and it was decided to authorise Mr Brebner to meet representatives of the Swimming Club and to construct a temporary swimming pool at Landing Road, the expenditure not to exceed £SO. .

The committee visited the Heads and selected a suitable site,, and it was decided that an area approximately 66 2/3 yards im length by 66 yards in width be excavated to an average depth of 3 feet over the whole area, and that the proportion of cost to be contributed by the Whakatane Borough Council to both the Heads and the Landing Road swimming pools should not exceed the total sum of £IOO.

Commenting on the decision of the committee at last Monday’s meeting of the Borough Council, the Mayor said that he thought the figure of £IOO for temporary swimming pools was very substantial. He had not anticipated spending anything like that figure. •

Cr Warren said that to do the thing properly, it would mean building a frame of heavy wire mesh around an enclosure at Landing Road, and constructing a competitional pool at the Heads. He did not think that £IOO as a capital outlay for swimming facilities which would last a number of years, too excessive.

“We’ve got to face up to this swimming bath question some time or other,” declared Cr Canning, who declared that the matter had been before the Council for years now, and could not be avoided any longer.

Crs Morpeth and Armstrong both favoured the Heads, the latter pointing out that if the pool were concentrated on they could hope for a much greater measure of support from the Harbour Board, as they would be catering for county as well as Borough residents.

The Mayor: Has this proposition been investigated by the engineer? Mr W. S. Henderson who was present, said he hesitated to give an opinion without careful examination of the site. The vaguaries of the sand movements at the Heads were very well known and it might be exceedingly dangerous to spend a lot of money on anything of a permanent nature. With a good easterly blowing in he had known the beach to pile up 4 or 5 feet in a single night. At the present time it was scouring out but that was not to say that in a month or two it would hot be piling up again. On the motion of the Mayor it was decided to refer the whole matter td the works committee and to ask the engineer to report on the matter.

Cr Warren: I only hope that we can conclude this matter quickly as the season will be on us shortly and all our efforts wil have been in vain unless we have something done!