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Hokitika Guardian, 28 February 1930, Page 4

. The very practical use which is being , made by the rising generation of the , municipal swimming baths as oppor- , tunity offers in favourable seasons, sug- . gests that the baths should be better equipped for wider and longer use for the practical purposes they serve. The baths are the property of the municipality, but their present use and con- ; dition is largely due to the care and enthusiasm of the enthusiasts constituting the local swimming club. The cost to the ratepayers has not been at all large, nor is there any special recurring charge for annual upkeep. The Borough Council has assisted in major repairs or additions, when called upon, but on the whole has escaped very lightly seeing that so much practical work is done in an honorary way by the swimming organisation. Such being the case, if further necessary work is to be done to make the baths of greater service to the community, it would not appear to be out of place to expect the local authority to help in the most practical way possible. The gatherings which took place at the baths this week, as well as on numerous former occasions when the juvenile element gather in considerable force for a public demonstration, leave no doubt in an onlooker’s mind as to the practical value the baths have been in teaching the youth of the community the art of swimming. From those of very tender years upwards, the juveniles are able to sport and compete in the water in a very convincing way, at once confirming the practical value the baths have been in affording facilities to learn J swimming and providing a safe resort for the healthful practice and recreation which swimming affords. The baths have served so useful a purpose that there is the desire to see it turned to greater advantage by improvements in tne way of beating, so that the baths may lie used over a longer perk'd of the year than now is possible. There is also the suggestion to have tlie ’ baths covered, an improvement which .1 would be useful also to the same end. f These two matters attended to, and the town would then have something * of special value, and the community

would have more occasion than ever to rejoice at tlie good fortune of the town in possessing a public resort of such special value. Naturally the cost lor these proposals is standing in the way at present, but if estimates for tne work were procured, and negotiations were opened between the Borough Council and the swimming authorities, ways and means might he provided easier and quicker than is thought generally. The proposals are of such value to tlie object in view that this matter might be taken up and investigated with a view to action of a definite nature.