Poverty Bay Standard. Published Every Evening. GISBORNE: WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 1883.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1257, 24 January 1883, Page 2

Poverty Bay Standard. Published Every Evening. GISBORNE: WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 1883.

Whilst advocating cleanliness and the sanitary effect of sea-bathing we mos strongly object to the very disgusting demeanour of several members of the Rowing Club, who in the afternoon, when returning from a spin up the river in their boats, strip to the skin, and after standing for a few seconds on the landing-place, plunge into the Taruheru. A letter appears in another column, signed “ Decency,” calling upon the police to take action in the matter, and we are firmly of opinion that this must be done. If these young men are addicted to natatorial pursuits they should at least have the good taste to clothe themselves in suitable bathing-dresses. We are not mock-modest, and see no objection to people bathing at any hour during the day which their fancy may direct, but we do insist, and shall see that the police insist upon a proper costume being adopted during certain hours. There can be no possible objection to young fellows having a dip in the briny on the beach first thing in the morning in a state of nudity if it so pleases them, because there is very little probability of them being seen by those whose eyes might be offended, but at five o’clock in the afternoon, within sight of passers along Read’s Quay, such a thing cannot be tolerated, and must be put a stop to. We have had several complaints made to us in relation to this indecent conduct, and have in fact previously written about it, but we are sorry to say it is one of those evils which grow. Had our remarks some few weeks back been noticed by the authorities, there would have been no occasion for these now written to have been penned. If members of the Rowing Club are permitted to bathe in the Taruheru in broad daylight without a vestige of clothing upon them, then anybody else can do the same, and for the matter of that “ things being equal to the same are equal to one another,” and the police would not probably arrest a man if he walked down Gladstone Road perfectly naked We certainly blame the young men, who appear to have no sense of decency, but we very much more blame the police for not giving them a lesson If we have any more complaints, and find that the police have not acted as they are paid to do, we shall take steps which will put a stop to the very objectionable practice our amateur oarsmen at present indulge in.