JOBBING THE BEACHES

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 174, 24 July 1923, Page 7

JOBBING THE BEACHES

SHORT-SIGHTED ECONOMY.

gIXKD BOROUGH COUNCILS.

jawing away splendid asset.

"B a a crying ehame that such a — mjflctnt asset of Auckland—for it SSmji quite as much to Auckland as to fl!*oßPOrt-9h°uld be frittered away in iv« Banner," said a resident of Chelten- ' {„ » "Star" reporter this morning. ttT*ai complaining that the borough Jl-jfjl w«e still persisting in its misZuttA policy of taking sand from that %-lOVely beach, merely to save a few -gggji and using it for blinding on the LJfotaA other purposes. In other countrs i, ft was the endeavour of the local •nthoritiee to preserve their beaches, as it was realised what a great asset they «re to a place. "Where," he asked, i'lfonld Cheltenham's summer trade be if the beach -were spoiled?" And spoiled t bo** certainly would be as fast as the boWßgh council could do it. The new jfcyor had at a public meeting practidfly pledged himself to a policy of prodding the beaches, and it -was to be j-Kd he would insist that the present jetructive policy be abandoned before jt«i too late.

MUD REPLACE? GOLDEN SAND

Wu there any doubt about the had flirts of taking sand off the beach? Not th slightest. Any old resident -would pre yon proof of the shocking change tint bad come over the beach. At one ;nM the fine yellow sands stretched right away out into the tide in a gently doping angle. To-da.v the mud-bank th»t lay at the edge of the sands had mtroeched tremendously, and the sea cute iii so much that at extra high tides it wes impossible to get round by the Kiosk -trail.

Some years ago a so-called "test" was iikm by the council, and it was then given wit tbat this test proved that no linn" whatever had been done to .the iKiht .".That test, however, was quite fiitical. A small area was pegged off at oi end and measured. Then some sand ■ fu-taken away, and after a norfhelterly Wow it was measured again and pronounced to be 'precisely as it was fcfore any sand was removed. What icttaDy happened was that the gale had prept v the sard from one end to the otferind equalised matters, but the sum iotfl of the sand on the whole beach was undoubtedly reduced.

fjs* slow but sure. f&is wanton destruction of the one nlwfrost beauty of Devonport had oiled forth protest after protest from tin;-Cheltenham Ratepayers' Association, but the reply of past councils has ■hays been the same, "No harm is being dote."- "Just to save a few pounds iWCouneil is gradually but surely robbing Devonport <it its greatest asset," uS another resident of Devonport. Ens though it might cost the borough i little more to get sand from some jiliee tfiat did not matter, that course ikeld'.be adopted. It was all rot to m thit the beach was sot being depKrtby the carting away of the sand. U{ eonne after each gale the surface of ti* nod was si-cad out again, and Wesirere filled in.'but the sum total of tie jaod was undoubtedly lessened; It migbt be a gradual process, but it was geyertheleas certain, and any old resiint would confirm the statement- that ik betch had suffered.

■■/, THE SAME AT 3III.FORD. At Cheltenham the taking of the sand it kept as one of the perquisites of the Berough Council, but at Milfbrd beaclf, it is 'said, private contractors arc •Bowed to help themselves. And onceMUford beach goes, it is, good-bye to 'kit spot as a popular bathing suburb. 1 object to great holes being left in tbe carters find a good patch they dig Vim up," said one of the residents. "If ibectrtree find a good patch they dig down, and keep digging down, until ttgfkave made something resembling a awl-hole, and anyone walking along fefcttch at night might twist his ankle, if mCbreak his neck. They say that n.hirtn.is done by carting away the aW? that ■it 'makee' again. That, *wWr, is all nonsense, in my opinion. Owe is only a. certain amount of sand J»:tlje beach, and once that is removed 'twould take years arid years before ■» ixieh woud resume its present contah."

QUEER PROTECTION. fni the. irony pi the thing is that *«e-'Very beaches were handed over ''the local authorities for the express Pepwe' that the "people could "look «tw their own property." The Auck«»A harbour has jurisdiction over * beaches from- the North Head to jwi Point on the north side of the arbour, and from the Bastion (Orakei) "tie Watchman on the south side, Id they jealously guard every grain ■ «»nd thereon. They realise the value «Auckland beaches to the people, and "W refuse to allow them to be jW twiy to spread on roads and fertjfttlu. And the Government, which * Wppo««d to be such a soulless sort 1 Won, has jurisdiction over the J* of the beaches in the gulf, and *7 cwrcige a most rigid supervision. "BCfs permission is given to anyone to !■»»• sand or shingle the fullest Writs are made, and only places that 1 in from the haunts of men and *w likely to ibe used as holiday re- *• Pegged off for the use of the ■a&jttm. Devonport people that have 5* trying to save Chentenham from *atnds of the spoilers might well f« lot disheartened, but with a *eWf*that is practically pledged to J2*t the beaches they are going to *W yet one more fight of it.