BATHING AMENITIES

Taupo Times, Volume I, Issue 6, 20 February 1952, Page 4

BATHING AMENITIES

Two near drowning accidents at the wharf have focussed attention on the necessity tor reviewirlg our bathing amenities, ancj regulating , the use of these. Taupo js richly endowed by Nature with bathing facilities, which, if properly controlled, are as safe for young and old as anywhere in New Zealand. There is the lake itself, for cold water bathing, « with warm patches here and theie which could be conveniently marked. There are the A.C. Baths. Constructive imagination could find excellent scope for improving these hot water amenities. With such ample facilities close at hand it is but natural that our young people should become water-minded. Nature, in fact, has provided all-the-year round bathing facilities enough to satisfy not only a steadily growing population, but an annually rising inflow of tourists. # These are assets well worth capitilising. Dressing sheds should be provided at selected points along the lake shore. With such facilities lake bathing would be yreatly popuiarised, adding a further attraction for holidaymakers. Bathing at the wharf should be strictly prohibited. The currents

and eddies there are dangerous. Moreover, as the i~aunch Owners' Association pointed out in representations published in the Times last. week, bathing at the wharf is a serious impediment to launch traffic, which is increasing in volume annually. Children are the common offenders. One of the tragic aspects of ba'ning accidents it that not infrequently it is the would-be rescuer who loses his cr her life. That might auite easily have happened in the two recent incidents. With the miles of foreshore along the lakefront there is no need for anyone to use the wharf for bathing, and a perfectly reasonable arguments for putting a ban on the practice With regard to the A.C. Baths. As

was reported ecently, the Town Board has in view the provision of 8 new cubicles for the use of the public patron - ! ising these rhermal amenities. There is no provision for a swimming bath. j In a plan previously contemplated the design provided for five cubicles and a swimming bath as well. The amended plan to exclude the swimming bath and provide more cubicles raises an interesting point. On the face of if, there would seem reason in the argument that

with the lake close handy there was no need for a swimming bath. On the ofher hand, a thermal swimming bath would provide an attraction for bathers in the colder weather. The public demand in other centres for tepid baths has induced municipal authories to provide these amenities, and where they now exist they have proved very popular. It may be a pertinent question, therefore, whether this point has been adequately dealt with in regard to the A.C. Baths. We feel sure that the Town Board, as the trustees of the local public finances, and the executors of the public's requirements, will be prepared to welcome and consider representations in regard to the allied problems of lake bathing conveniences and The improvement of the A.C. Baths. It is a sound policy to take the long view.