WAIOURU COMMUNITY NEWS

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 2, Issue 13, 28 August 1984, Page 8

WAIOURU COMMUNITY NEWS

The Waiouru Community Advisory Committee met early this month and new members were welcomed by the chairman, Bruce Meldrum. The chairman explained, for the benefit of the new members that the main function of the committee was to act as a forum for residents of Waiouru to put forward their problems and suggestions. The council was then able to advise Headquarters ATG and, when necessary, the Rangitikei County Council on certain matters relatiiig to the county. The

WCA Committee also sends representatives to discussions and meetings outside the Waiouru area. ★ ★ * At the previous meeting of the committee the question of fencing the pond adjacent to the Burns Pool was raised in a letter to the KCAC by a Waiouru resident. The chairman told the meeting that he had investigated the matter on safety grounds and had decided against fencing the pond as requested as this would markedly detracl from the original purpose oi

the pond which was beautification of the area. He went on to explain that the army policy was to provide all houses with toddler-proof fencing and that if the pond were fenced as a safety measure, then it was reasonable to assume that residents would then be requestingchild-proof protection against all potential hazards in the Waiouru area such as all streams, the railway lines, railway station and platform etc. This was just not a feasible exercise. ★ * * During the meeting the committee was told by

several attending members of the public that the temperature of the Burns Pool was not being maintained at an acceptably warm level. The pool temperature had been lowered when there had been complaints of eye infections. Supervisors had sought advice on ways of alleviating the problem when the chemical quantity and type for the pool had been checked and were found to be correct. It was suggested that it may be the heat which was causing the problem and therefore the temperature had been lowered from appro^imately 30 degrees celsius down to as low as 26 degress celsius on some occasions. Further investigations are being held into the possible causes of the eye trouble and, in'the meantime, users of the pool areadvised to use goggles when using the pool for any length of time. Prior to the close of the meeting the committee was advised by the chairman that representatives of the committee have been invited to a hospital board meeting in Taumarunui to discuss the future role of Taumarunui and Wanganui hospitals. At present, Waiouru base Hospital has an agreement with Wanganui for joint sharing of ambulances, services etc and all obstetric cases that were not dealt with at Waiouru were sent to Wanganui. But suggestions have been put forward by Taumarunui Hospital Board to merge Waiouru with that board. However, this would probably only result in further travel by expectant mothers since they would then have to travel not to Taumarunui but to Hamilton where full obstetric services are available.