THE MATAMATA RECORD, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1923. WANTED-A BATH.

Matamata Record, Volume VI, Issue 475, 27 September 1923, Page 2

THE MATAMATA RECORD,

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1923. WANTED-A BATH.

The Only Paper Eublished in the Matamata County.

THERE was a stage in the evolution of man when he swam naturally—by instinct. That, of course, would be ages before he reached his present high eminence in the animal" kinddom. Gradual physical changes may have had something to do with bringing about his deficiency in this respect, but likoly enough the acquired slotht'ulness of his allegedly supercivilisation, combined with a growing distaste for cold water, had more. So to-day he cannot swim unless he is taught how. And if a man (and that general term necessarily includes women and boys and girls) wishes—if he really wishes—to be taught how, he must do something more than hang his clothes on a hickory bush and refrain from going near the water. The people of Minamata should bear this in mind. At present, if a boy in our community cannot swim it must be overlooked becaus<*'he has been given little; if a girl, it must be forgiven her because she has missed much. To sum up, all this means that we have not a bath in which our boys and our girls can learn to swim.' And it should not be necessary for yet another drowning fatality in our midst to bring this home to us. It is not necessary to have anything expensive or elaborate—there are creeks within a mile of Matamata town that can be damned and a swimming hole formed there. And what is the matter with the children of to-day if they cannot walk a couple of miles in order to enjoy a swim? The walk there should provide the necessary physical stimulus to make them appreciate one of the chief of those wild joys of living that Browning talks about—" the plunge in the cold, icy water"—of course in the summer time they will be deprived of the excessive joy of the iciness, but the water even then should be cool enough to invigorate healthfully. And the tfalk back should tone them.up after their bathe and restore any decrease in circulation. But whatever the bath is and whether the children walk there or are rolled thither in Rolls-Royces, the fact remains Matamata should have a public swimming bath, with hours set aside for children.