SWIM POSTPONED.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18412, 19 June 1925, Page 7

SWIM POSTPONED.

. OCTOPUS IN BATH.

(BPICIAL TO "THI PEB9S.")

WELLINGTON, June 18

For some rears past children playing at Oriental Bay have told stories of having seen octopi "about the rocka there. No great heed was paid to the stories, but after -what occurred yesterday afternoon, some credence will be placed on them. Cold as the water is in this southern portion of the island, an ardent swimmer, Mr Horn, of the Telegraph Department, proceeded to the Te Aro Baths for a dip. He stripped, and was about to dive in when he noticed scniethL.g writhing and squirming about on the bottom of the baths. He hesitated awhile and had a good look at the suspicious object moving down below, and then postponed the swim in favour of calling in the help of the custodian of the baths. The two decided that the intruder was a large octopus, and they set about means of getting him out. It was a ticklish and difficult job. A puut was procured, and the two venturesome spirits, armed with various killing weapoas, and some hauling apparatus, proceeded to catch the enemy and bring him to the surface. They were successful, eventually, in running him through, and in due course got the ugly monster to the surface, boat hooks and other trckle having to be brought into potion Having got him partly on the footwalk above the water, they chopped off two huge tentacles and then managed to kill him. When hnng up afterwards, the octopus measured nearly 20 feet long, and his body was so large that a sheet of a daily newspaper would not cover it. How the octopus got into the bath 3, which are on all Bides enclosed, is <a mystery. One suggestion was that he had been thrown over the top by the recent violent storm in the harbour, but it is more like'.v that either same portion of the enclosing woodwork was disturbed by the stcrm, thus allowing the octopus" to find a. way in, or that to escape from the storm, the monster climbed the wall of the baths and sought shelter in trie calm waters on the other side. Certain it is that for the future, steps will be taken to guard asrninst bathers falling into a trap which Mr Horn- was remarkably fortunate to escape.