The Hutt News THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1930. BATHS BETTERMENT.

Hutt News, Volume 2, Issue 36, 13 February 1930, Page 7

The Hutt News THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1930. BATHS BETTERMENT.

Very valuable information is once a i month supplied to the Borough C-.uneil by the executive officers of the various, -departments, and at the last j.ie'eting' -of the Council the contents of / the report supplied- by t»he baths custodian ■call fox special attention. This report which, includes a statement of receipts, • gives also the figures for the .'ofresj>cnding month of last year. Fom this it is clear that January of this year ■was not nearly as gcod a month, from a finance point of view as wa.s the previous January.; .The reeeio+s for last month fell thirty per cent belo.w those for the same month of the preceding year, the decrease being rather more marked in the ease of adults than of children. This falling off 75 attributable to the unsettled and chilly weather experienced throughout the month, and is a clear indication that our Splendid baths, admittedly-the finest in the Dominion, will never be fully ta'ten ad- / vantage of until definite steps ».xe taken and completed for the raising of the water "temperature and for maintaining that temperature at such a degree that no shock to the system can. take place. It is well known that ax"tesian water is cold and from enquiries i we have made we learn that, when the. bath, is re-filled the temperature »>f the water .is below 55 degrees-r-miuh too cold, for a pleasurable swim szsept to j the comparatively hardy sports who would be happy even if they Lad to bTeak through ice tt# get thsir dip. There is no doubt that a determined effort should be male, particularly by

tie local swimming club, to impress this upon the Council in the ho?e that that body will go fully into the question of initial cost and of rrinniag expenses. We are. not insinuating that the Council has neglected its iluty m connection with the baths; far from it, indeed we have reason to believe .that a proposal will com© before the ratepayers very shortly seeking authority to spend some hundreds of pounds in a, plant (chlorinating) for X->urifyi ig the water. But we feel that this, while qiiite desirable in itself, will not satisfy the public's wishes regarding .baths and that nothing short of* the . > s^talla-"' tion of some form of heating plant will fully popularise the baths..- <We .'o not think that the expenditure'of'the. iiqney as proposed by. the Council -will losult in one added penny- of revenue- vud we strongly advocate some method of V...

ing which will bo a surety double or even treble the present receipts. Is it awise-move to spend fcut or five' hundred pounds without sound reasons, for hoping for a marked.improvement In attendance of thepublic and'i-s consequent physical betterment, Whon by some additional. outlay the receipts would greatly increase and the baths be made so that the fullest, vese would "be made of them. From-officers of the local swimming club we learn fhtft im-. provements along these lines advocated' in this article have been carried out in Auckland with, very marked rosults. It is possible, at what, to a borongb/of the extent and solidify of ours, i<* not a heavy charge, to injctal a ,pli.at foT raising the temperature of the water and also for cleansing and pturifying the ■water by drawing off the water from the deep end of the. bath.—treating it for removal of fluff detached from bathing costumes and 'then' chemically to render all deleterious matter capable of being removed by the attached filter. This would save many hours of scrubbing the bottom of th© baths which has now to be done at frequent Internals and of course hours of labour means cost of upkeep. We urge the Council to seriously consider this problem and we would advise the swiihTpiTig club to approach, the Council armed with facts and figures concerning the purification and heating of batdis in general and to work whole-heirtedly with tile .Council to ensure that' next sumnter will see th 9 work completed.