RYE AND EASTBOURNE 121 



Stand the assemblage of municipalities collected 

 under the city's style, and look at its public baths. 

 Then turn to places such as abound on the South 

 Coast — Brighton and Eastbourne, for example. 

 Encourage use of the natural advantages their 

 littoral offers ? Not much, unless setting encroach- 

 ing, offensive, or vexatious restrictions mean 

 promoting bathers' interests, and stringing 

 together a row of prohibitions, limitations, and 

 penalties is calculated to act as a stimulant. 

 True, Brighton has a Corporation fresh-water 

 bath and Hove's municipality a very fine sea- 

 water affair, carefully constructed of an odd length 

 to spoil it for racing, but not a penny is spent on 

 turning the shore line to advantage for sea-water 

 baths. As to the "open," unless you are willing 

 to *'go in " earlier than the most like or later than 

 suits the majority, you are left to do the best you 

 can for yourself from bathing-machines. 



Eastbourne, though extremely arbitrary and 

 dictatorial in its arrangements for bathing, 

 flourishes. Brighton's best friend could not have 

 the audacity and mendacity to declare that it was 

 ''going strong." The reason why the latter 

 wilters in the heat of opposition and rivalry is not 

 far to seek. The high-class business that made 

 its fortune has been driven away through 

 interfering with its convenience, also by cheap 

 tripping, and cheap tripping does not keep trade 

 going. It used to be one of the places for 

 children because of its beach and sands, and a 

 popular resort for boating, pulling, and sailing. 

 The big steamers now serving well, probably 

 gave more in themselves than they took in 

 ruining the longshore working-boatmen's trade. 

 Besides, the perhaps necessary new system of 



