"RECLAMATION"

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 72, 24 March 1923, Page 5

"RECLAMATION"

THE NEW WATERFRONT. AND THK SOME-DAY STATION*. CTI/rOF THE f<;LY IN AUCKLAND. (By l-'.U.) Down beyond the railway station and stretching north of Quay Street and from Paruell Bridge to pointless Point Campbell, is an area which, for sheer. Hat, squalid ugliness would be hard to rival in this or any other country —the sacrilice of former natural beauty to that wonderful word of wide meanings and significance, "reclamation." In this instance, the first syllable is apropos. "Reckless wrecking" would quite adequately describe the transformation that lias taken place at. the vandal hand of the utilitarian in tho once beautiful foreshores of the Waitemaui hereabouts. Along what were once the pretty sloping banks of the harbour, great, grey buildings arc now built or in course of building: below these banks stretches the "reclamation." a great fiat expanse of colourless horror, relieved here and there by ugly structures of galvanised iron. It is a carefully planned and executed outrage on an mid nature in the interests of a commercialism which bas no liner feelings. 1,1I ,1 nun the city side this spectacle is depressing enough: viewed from the harbour it U calculated to strike tile steel deep into the artistic soul. Aucklaiiders returning after long years abroad have almost wept when they viewed the shucking transformation thnt has taken place in their absence. "Whore is Campbell'* l'uintf they Jtusp, {fazing at the shattered headland whicli was one "a tiling of beauty." And then they utter imprecations that would stir even the stony hearts of the usually impenetrable utilitarians —if the latter could pause long enough in the work of "reclamation" or devastation Iα hear them. . THE ALTAR OK UTILITY. One wonders what it is all for, this sacrilice of beauty on the altar of utility. Then one is assured that it is intended to make Auckland a great port. by which you understand that down there on the waterfront the Harbour Board is going to run railways to prevent the seagulls settling down' and spoiling the landscape or seascape, that it is going to push out more largo and costly wharves, that it is going to erect more giant cranes and other conveniences and appliances for working ships, and that it is going to pay for all this by "reclaiming," and selling the "reclaimed" land to merchants and others who will put up hideous buildings, and tin sheds (which cannot properly be called buildings), along the new and narrow streets it is the intention of the Board to "create." Suggestions that the waterfront be beautified, that a promenade along the new "shore" and a few *mall park areas be preserved for the people, and that some attempt be made to relieve the general sordidness of the scene now being planned, meet with a disdainful sniff. tVhat has the Harbour Board got to do with beautiflcation or the convenience of the people? "It is the work of the Board to 'make Auckland a. great port.' and it is going to do it—even if it has to blast down every headland and fill in all the harbour to do it. Oh. they aren't at all aesthetic gentlemen on the Harbour Board!" OCR SHABBY STATION. Leaving the "reclamation" work of the harbour Board, let us turn to that of the Hail way Department, which now provides so shabby and so grimy a blot on the landscape, but which promises some improvement for the future. Now. : .t is hard to convince a railway man anywhere that there is anything wrong with the system or institution w : hich he serves: but the railway man of Auckland will bow his head and blush through his tan! and grime when the passing stranger etares with wonder at that attenuated pile of dirty iron rooting, and at those ridiculously low and narrow strips of platforms which do duty for a central station in this modern city. In this supercilious glance lot" the welcome stranger is deep humiliation for the unhappy man with the peaked cap and the shiny buttons. Perhaps that is why he is so often gruff and curt with passengers. The Government urornised Auckland a new railway station, worthy of the size and importance of the beautiful city which the vandals seem to spoil. Hut there came the war—and plans and specifications were put in pigeon holes, where they lie even now undisturbed, save when engineers draw them surreptitiously forth and replace them I after brushing away the tears that .i hasty glance brings forth, and our railway station is ilie jest of all beholders, an antiquated conglomeration of rotten wood and rusty iron. )t is ,up to Aucklandcrs to hhnul aloud for their new station. They won't bo happy till they get it. Mow ran they he? And 1 when the Corcrnmcnt which so favours ; the South and starves t ho North in regard to public' works is at last moved to action, it might he persuaded to induce Ihe Harbour Hoard to act with it and secure the services nf an expert townplanner in sec if something cannot, lie done to make more sightly that ghastly mutilation of the hmd.-cape wrought by I the sacrilegious hands of "utilitarianism" between Air-ac Avenue and tiie a coonr.v si heme. I The scheme for the new railway • station and Mibiirban line is really an excellent or.p, and i's earning nut j would immensely improve Auckland. ! The new line will m>: only carry the 'Main Trunk traliie. bin will open up j splendid suburbs :i a beautiful district. : The preliminary -urvcv s have ordained I that the line will »•> past I ;iiiipbcll"s I Point and Point Resolution. a.-ro>s ;!,e I shallows of Holison's Hay. up the I'urewn j (hilly and through pict:ires>|Uc Panmure Ito Westlield. where i; will juncture with I the old main line. Tliis will give an I easy grade and do away with the tremenI dons pull now required from Auckland to Remuera. The distance will be some two miles greater, but tins will lie more than compensated for by t!ie level i journeying: and then' will assuredly be la rush of sett lemon! :.'ong ihe route J that will make for groa; building I activity and consequent railway revenue. The jrrnthns has hern d,,.,0 t!w>\v»y from Mercer as far as Westfield, and the completion of the new route at this end will I make for speedier, safer and more economical working. There is every argument in favour of the early commencement of this work, and one hopes that the building of the new railway station will ho taken in hand with a general scheme for attempting to repair by art the havoc wrought against nature by those win; •i-ould sacrilice every trace 'of beaut v in the unaesthctical name of "UeduinI tion."