VERY POOR SUPPORT

NZ Truth, Issue 1208, 24 January 1929, Page 6

VERY POOR SUPPORT

Why Is Response To Surf Club's, Collections So Niggardly ? (From "N.Z. Truth's" Special Auckland Representative.) The world is full of people who are always on the look-out for 1 something /or nothing, but the limit of public meanness is reached when it comes to "dipping down south" for a few pence to assist the fund's 6i"thd'sur/ clubs whose members do such splen-? did public service on crowded- beaches. ' , " •

. A UCKLAND'S, - popular -seaside', ref\ sort, Miiford. which is thronged' : by thousands of .durintr" the summer mouths* has- a. surf , club whose members are as efficient as they are keen. .. - v *' " " f ' ; '- ■■'■" .-. . '■' .'■ Every SaUirday afternoon, and .on Sundays, the club gives an inspiring display and- demonstration of lifesaving. ■•••('■ ■•."■■ V. ■"■'.'• . ':■•-■' ■■' ■ The crowd throngs around to see the show, but when the money-boxes arc taken round— well, that is, a different story. ..'■--'. . . . . • . The collectors are met with a stony silence and a glassy stare, and there is nothing doing so far. as many of the beach loungers are concerned. Many others dip down for; a coin of low value and the collection-boxes rattle with a dull ring of copper above which the tinkle of silver coins is drowned. Some people give generously, but they are m the minority. The functions of a surf club are selfevident. They are publicly demon-

strated m practice every day, and riot infrequently m real earnest, on the beaches, but ' for some inexr-ilieable reason the public iii the mass doe's not readily respond to "tho mouey-box % V appeal. .' "; At any moment the individual who has declined to make a ■ donation liiay be the very one to need the gratuitous services of the sxirf club. v. \ There is another aspect of the.position which seems to be overlooked, and; Vi that, is .the risk to which siipf club •£ lnemb^rs are exposed "m the public I interest." . . . , >,~ Under certain conditions the lifesavers' own lives may be endangered, ; as, for example, when some foolish and indifferent swimmer ventures out too far, and the drowning One becomes a victim of panic and struggles. : When it is remembered that surf , clubs act»in the interests of public .i safety the least the public who throng the beaches can do is to respond according to individual 1 - means when the hat goes round. . -■