CAMPBELL'S POINT.

Auckland Star, Volume XLV, Issue 16, 19 January 1914, Page 4

CAMPBELL'S POINT.

The ■informatkrtt supplied) by the Mayor on the Campbell's iPaiwt scheme, which appeals in another oofrumn of this issue, should enable our .readxro to gr.'i6p the situation for 'themnelvee. ■Apparently the chairman of .the -Harbour BoaTd! itakes etrong exception to our crrbkaem of Ms proposals, tut Wβ published! defence of the scheme its wholly inadequate aird unconvincmg. Mr Guneon etolrs that his proposals were merely 'tentative suggestions, that: the Board- "has made no offer to the Council," andi that the "Maj>oT*B statement that the scheme would entail cutting down iJaimpbedlVs Point ie "en'tlrely misleading"; while the "New Zealand ■Herald , ," commenting , on Mr Gunson's Temarks, earye that the suggestion that the Harbour Board wants to cut donrn the Point so ac to get material for ite tide deflector and' *he reclamations is simply a disborbkm of the whole scheme. In reply, we need only cay iihat thoe.e ■who wieh to dfecover precisely now all these remarks are to be interpreted miuet T€B/d! Mr ParT'e explanation, and make themeel'vee familiar with both stides of the case. A brief inepection of tie plan eabmitied by Mr. Guneon to the Mayor throws a great deal of light upon the.Bubject. Reference to "the" "itt»ched"ie«a& show? that, as we explained last week, the Harbour Board's scheme involved the complete destruction of the whole front of Campbell's Point. The ddetance from the Board's new boundary line nmked on the pHan to the extremity of the Point ie almost exactly 600 feet; and anyone who caree to go to the Point cam ccc for himeelf how much or how little of it will be left when it has been cut back 200 yards from its present sealine. The total area to be demolished is, ac the Mayor shows, five awes. Of this 31 acres now form part of a public reserve on the west side of the 'Point. Instead of tMe, Mr. Gunson offers the city three a.ndl a-half acres of "KElbryde," and 1 he argues that the city would gain 'by the exchange. But, as Mr. Parr cays, "Kil'br.ydfe," 'WJt'h the Point cut away, will .be very different from what it ie nicrw, for ste picturcequeirees and scenic value will be largely destroyed. But Mr. Gmneon- apparently f orgete ittiat hie eoheme also entaile a lose of one and three-quaTter acres more of the existing public reserve which would , be handed over to the Harbour Board, and thie transfer would l also involve the blocking* •up of Gladstone Boad' about 100 ft back from the edge of the cliff. Approach to tfie sea -will ibhue ibe denied' the public, and , hi time, ac itihe Board's r«w ■freehold would be used' for commercial pjirposce ac a source of revenue, the view might be bailt out altogether. So nrocli .for Mr Garrison's contention that the city would not lose by the proposed exchange, andi that "only a relatively email area of the Point itself" vrae to be cut d!own. We observe that our morning contemporary and Mr Gunson make a great deal of the proposal to carry an "esplanade" or "boulevard" along the sea-front, and they accuse their critics of obstructing a valuable public improvement by protesting against the destruction of Campbell's Point. The answer to this, of course, is that as the Mayor has explained, it is not necessary to cut down the Point to make the road. The City 'Engineer states that a very slight deflection would carry this road round the Point along the foreshore. In any case, Mr Gunson has admitted that the reclamation in St. George's Bay, on the west side of the Point, may not be completed for 20 years or more, and there can be no possible excuse for destroying the Point now in view of such a remote contingency. As to the charge of misrepresentation levelled against us—if Mr Gunson is prepared to assert that the Harbour Board did not intend to use the "spoil" from the Point for its reclamation works and its tide deflector we may see some grounds 'for modifying ourviewe. It ie not necessary for us to enter into the personal side of thJs controversy; but we entirely agree with Mr Parr that in matters of great public interest and importance such ac this, the authorities should always take the people into their confidence at the earliest convenient opportunity. After all, as Mr Parr puts it, the Mayor and the Chairman of the Harbour Board are only trustees for the people, and neither of them ought to resent the full public discussion and criticism of their policy. But 60 far as the main question at issue is concerned, it stands precisely -where it stood before Mr Gunson spoke. There is no necessity for chitting down Campbell's Point, as the Toad along the foreshore can be run round it, and will be much more effective and .picturesque with the,. Point as a background. The destruction of Campbell's Point, for the reasons we have already given, would be a serious loss to the city and its people, and the recompense offered seems to us altogether insufficient to repay the people of Auckland for an irreparable injury to the surroundingß of our beautiful harbour and city. We hope, therefore, that the City Council will unanimously support the Mayor in this matter, and refuse absolutely to entertain the proposals submitted by <4he -Harbour Board.

The •following' is Mr. D. C. Bates' weather forecast for 34 hoars from 9 a.m. this day:—"The indications are for variable and light breezes but moderate to strong, northerly prevailing. Expect warm aid humid conditions, and at times dull weather, with much mist and ■fog in parts. Barometer falling after 24 houre. Tides high; sea moderate." The fire brigade wae ■called ont between quarter past and half-past seven on Saturday night to an alarm caused by a blaze in the window of Messrs \V. K. Cookc and Sons premises in Lower Queen Street. At that time of the evening, and in that part of the city, the occurrence naturally created a stir, but the blaze was really over before the brigade arrived. It is said that by the fusing of a wire connected with an electric fan in the window the gauzy material that wae used in the firm's last scheme of window-dressing caught fire and flared .up alarmingly. There wae no heat in it, however, and the flame was confined to the window recess, the damage being comparatively trifling. The splendid dairying season so far enjoyed by Taranaki farmers is shown by the heavy shipping returns of the port of Patea. During the month of December the Patea Shipping Company's vessels took over the bar no lees than 230 tone of cheese for transhipment at Wellington. This represents the produce, of the whole of Southern Taranaki. A Wanganui resident who recently visited the Mother Country took the opportunity while there of engaging the of a couple of domestic helps. Sho paid their passages to the Dominion, and the girls, on their part, promised to "make good" at thie end to the satisfaction of their employer. They "made good" right enough, but not to tin satisfaction of the lady by whom they were engaged, for on reaching New Zealand they carefully gave Wanganui a wide berah and have not since been heard of. There ie a rumour that one of them took unto herself a husband in preference to taking the billet for which she was booked, while the other, apparently, was content to take French leave. A recent visitor to the southern end of the Dominion states that during a fairly lengthy pilgrimage through the Island he hae never eeen feed so luxurious ac during thie season. Grass is abundant everywhere, and a prosperous season is assured to fanners who have a sufficiency of stock. Those who have not that luck will have to pay to be accommodated, as all classes of stock are assured of reaching much higher prices than usual. Crops are very backward in the South on account of the heavy rain that prevailed throughout the spring, and the preparation of the ground for root crops has also been much delayed. Mr. Branson, of .Kaitaratahi, near Gisborne, hae snetained considerable loss by the destruction of three etacke of hay. Early on last Sunday the stacks, wlrich had been completed the night previously, were eet alight and completely destroyed, while an attempt was made to burn a field of oate, and three brood mares and a foal were taken out of a paddock, and were driven some distance along the road. Mr. Branson is of the opinion that more than one person' is concerned, ac the paddock from which the horeee were driven is tMcMy strewn wMi logs, and the.horeee could not have been moved in the dark by one man. The day fallowing the fire a man, coat" lees and hatless, wae seen in the vicinity of where the "stacks had stood, and it was thought that someone eleeping in the stacks had caused the blaze. A different light was, however, thrown upon tie fire when a charred newspaper wee discovered in the oatfield, evidently indicating that an attempt had been made to fire the crop, and near-iby Mr. Branson's telephone wire to Gieborne had been cat. There was no insurance on the three stacks, and the owner is a heavy loser. • not be ? en erally known that in the Washing-up Bill of last session, in order to avoid litigation over the lottery of a motor car at the Hamilton Show a clause was passed which empowers stewards of shows or exhibitions to <nve the right to any private person to dispose of any exhibit, or the whole of them by lottery. Capping ceremonies were referred to by the Chancellor, Sir Robert Stout in his address to the University Senate at Dunedin on Saturday. The chancellor said that capping ceremonies were held during the past year in Dunedin, Christchurch and Wellington, and the conduct of the junior students at all of them was such as reflected no credit on those who had had the privilege of higher education. In all of thest three centres there was organised disorder "It eeems to mc," said Sir Robert, "that the present attitude of junior undergraduates towards university functions is not in favour of the continuance of capping ceremonies, and I suggest that they should be discontinued. I re»ret that they should not have been regarded as opportunities for discussing, before a popular assembly, some phase of university education. At present, such ceremonies as we have are an injury to higher education, and the expense thereby incurred cannot be defended." Some suggestions ac to how a capping ceremony should be conducted -have been forwarded from the Professorial Board of Qtago University, and these will "be laid before the senate. Following is an interesting extract from a letter written by a New York business man to a friend in Wanganui: "Perhaps you will be interested to know that New South Wales is capturing a little of the New York market on rabbits. A couple of weeks ago I happened to notice soce case 3of rabbits, and on looking on the boxes saw that they came from New South Wales. Since then I have kept my eyes open, and have seen them in several different places. It is the first time I have ever seen anything of the kind from Australia, and I suggest that New Zealand get busy, for I know you have an over supply of the same kind of goods. So far our new tariff has not helped the poor consumer any on New Zealand wool. On all things that I have heard of so far, the foreigner has put up his price ac much as we reduced the tariff, and the consumer has to go down into his jeans as in the past." The visitor who ascends Mt. Eden and clambers up the survey trig in order to carve his initials a little higher up than the top one, as a rule does not realise what a very important part that particular trig has played in the survey of the Auckland district. If the country as far south as T&umarunui could be denuded of .buildings and foliage it would be seen to be dotted by millions of survey pegs. Each of these pegs occupies a certain position in relation to other pegs in its immediate vicinity, and the disposition of eyery one is dependent upon the trig on Mt Eden. The whole of the Auckland district, within a. radius of many miles of the city, has in this way been mapped from the Mt. Eden trig. News from Poverty Bay states that the country ie drying up terribly right along the Coast as far as Waiapu, a few Cape.