SAND FROM BEACHES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXV, Issue 94, 20 April 1904, Page 3

SAND FROM BEACHES.

(To the Editor.) Sir, —What a fuss about a load of sand. One would suppose that of the millions of tons within easy reach of Auckland that a few hundred loads would not be missed. Neither it would. Do the Harbour Board not know that every load of sand or shell removed from our beaches will be almost immediately replaced by sand or shell washed up from below low-water mark, thereby deepening the harbour by so much. Why, England, where territorial rights are guarded by stringent laws, many of which were passed during the Middle Ages, has, I know at least in some parts, not made it penal to take a few loads of sand, shell or boulder stone from the beaches, over -which the Admiralty alone claim jurisdiction. If the Harbour Board have a legal right to prohibit the taking of shell or sand, why don't they frame some regulation by which it may be removed. The rights of the public could be properly conserved without in any way injuring the interest of the Board or the port.—l am, etc., NOT A SAND BOY.