THE HUNTLY PRESS PUBLISHED WEEKLY AT 1 P.M. Local and General

Huntly Press and District Gazette, Volume 2, Issue 48, 22 August 1913, Page 2

THE HUNTLY PRESS PUBLISHED WEEKLY AT 1 P.M. Local and General

The importance of swimming as y swimming. i) taught in all elementary .school -, lias been recognised by vari Ministers of Education, an ! - capitation fee has been pr V i to encourage tea oners i * ' id > into their pupils the a . a tt.ition. Such classes 1 1 been }onne h the |- .local school, and it i a .1 that with the advent , warmer - weather, the c nuance of these will have ih* support and practical synin i:' of the public. [_ Swimming a>, in order l> 7 "'encourage lh - i * -.mors, should be initiated, , 1 it is in this 11 direction ;ho ‘residents, by •- contributi tho small prizes requit'c l. • : I d> their pin and - assist j ■ ■ I e.icliors in an effort e that is ie ; laudable, as well as a one that \. -aid tend to minimise accidents and save parents the d heart throbs and the grief that inevitably follow the loss of their loved ones.

The list of victims claimed by the Waikato river was increased recently Vm? by the fatal.drown- ' „ ing accident by UFE-BOUYS. w ® ch the Andrew Kerr, a school-boy thirteen years of age, lost his life, and thus plunged a family into'the deepest mourning. The evidence of Lewis Stewart Denham, a school-boy, who accompanied the lad to the spring hoard mar the rowing shed, showed that on going into the water li3 was able t > touch, but. j not to grasp the lad in hL 1 j struggle against the powerful; ! current. Had there been any ! I life-saving apparatus near at j hand, the sad fatality might have j been averted ; but as there was j no life-buoy and not even a plank j to be had, the boy after doing the j j host that his inability to swim ' * • the final disappearance of his | • companion and c uisin. In this : way, the life of the lad went out ; | with the current. When there ij near a settlement a river ot great volume and velocity of current, ic ’idmt' arc inevitable, though | their fatal termination may he i avoided by some form of lifej saving apparatus. This idea j -Truck. Mr das. McKee, on > of the I jury that “ sat ” on tho body, and | on its presentation to the iurors was accepted by them with carnal ct • us. uii.nßy, with the result | that i '.ie coroner kindly agree Ito i-k Lie the members of the R >win* Club t e place a life-buoy u ear .he sp an ,-bo/ird in question. |At other favourite balhina places -the punt landing an 1 the | Old Wharf, f>r exam de similar ! apparatus might well bo placed. : i 1 parents being interested in ; this matter a public subscription, J if instituted would meet with a generous response, s> that the ; implied repro ic’n of not adoptm for the fatal drowning acc dents might !>e r ui >ve 1 by the provision of the comparatively cheap articles -i -vi-mi by iiuman ingenuity.