WHAKATANE SAID TO BE APATHETIC TOWARD SWIMMING

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 37, 5 January 1949, Page 5

WHAKATANE SAID TO BE APATHETIC TOWARD SWIMMING

“There is no civic pride in .the Bay of Plenty,” said Mr J. G. Crawford, a Tauranga delegate, at a recent . meeting of the Bay of Plenty centre of the New Zealand Amateur Swimming Association at Rotorua. He was commenting on a disclosure made by Mr A. M. Comer, of Whakatane, that no facilities for organised swimming existed there, and that the Whakatane Borough Council apparently viewed the matter with apathy. Mr Comer said that swimming used to. take place at the old wharf “but they tip the sewerage there now.” On one occasion, the Borough Council had dredged a hole in a part of the harbour, but shortly afterwards, a heavy storm had silted it up again. When the meeting suggested that oil drums joined by planks be used as a. pontoon from which to conduct swimming races, Mr Comer replied: “We tried that—until somebody stole the oil drums.” It had been said earlier that the Tauranga Borough Council v/as not yet prepared to erect suitable swimming baths there. This would mean that about 600 school children would be unable to go swimming this season.

According to delegates, Messrs E. J. Brown, N. B. Williams and J. H. Farquhar an entirely different situation existed at Te Puke, where it was said, the council did everything possible to promote organised swimming and meet the requirements of the district club wherever practicable.