On Saturday evening the public of Dunedin, thanks to municipal enterprise, were placed in possession of as fine a bathing pool as any city could desire.
The result achieved is so eminently satisfactory that old opponents of the site chosen, and the design adopted, must have been converted into enthusiastic admirers. Nothing has been wasted in the way of superfluous ornamentation, and every accessory proper to such an establishment seems to have been provided. The hundreds of visitors to Saturday night's opening function, after close inspection of the new building, had nothing but praise to say concerning it.
If Dunedin has lagged behind other centres in providing public baths, the delay has enabled those entrusted with carrying out the mandate of the ratepayers to profit by the experience of other cities in the dominion, and on this account it may fairly be anticipated that none of the grave mistakes have been made that are too common to municipal undertakings generally.
The new building occupies a frontage of 103ft to Moray Place, and has a total depth of 159ft that diminishes in width to 38ft at the rear. The elevation has a bold design, in which the pressed brick material is relieved by cement dressings to the pediments over the doors and windows. The main entrances to the bathing pool and gallery open into vestibules that are roomy without taking up too much space. The swimming pool is 100ft long and 40ft wide, with a graduated depth of from 3ft for paddlers to 8ft for divers.
The pool is lined with white tiles, with four bands of dark tiles along the length of the bottom to guide swimmers in a straight course during carnival times. The pool holds 147,000 gallons of water, which is heated by means of a system of circulation produced by a steam injector that drives the water from the deep to the shallow end. The desired heat is maintained by two multi-tubular boilers. There is a clear passage way of 5ft along three sides of the pool, and abutting on this are 59 dressing boxes, built of Oregon timber, stained and varnished.
There is also a large dressing room for the crowds of children that are expected to flock to the baths. At the deep end of the pool is placed the ''take-off'' for use during sports meetings, diving boards of various altitudes, and a water chute. Suspended from the beams midway along the length of the bath are ropes, horizontal bars, and swinging rings from which the more athletic bathers can drop into the aqueous depths beneath.
• ''In the interests of morality,'' said his Worship the Mayor of Christchurch on Thursday afternoon at the annual meeting of the Society for the Protection of Women and Children, ''many live hedges round some of the city reserves have been cut down. Behind these no one could see what was going on, and so they had been removed''.
Mr Holland also said that it was the dearest wish of his heart to see the river banks brilliantly lit up, and a start had already been made in this direction. Some of these lights would be left burning all night. It was the intention of the council to make the city a brilliantly lit one.
Personally it went to his heart to see boys and girls squatting under an umbrella or in any dark corner or recess throughout the city, and he intended to profit by the example of London, and place lights everywhere possible. If anyone saw a dark place about it would be a very easy matter to report to the council, for a few extra lamps could easily be provided.- ODT, 30.3.1914.
