WATERFRONT OPEN AREA.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 141, 16 June 1926, Page 15

WATERFRONT OPEN AREA.

(To the Editor.) Sir, —I see it suggested in a recent article in your columns that a section of the present eastern reclamation be Used as a recreation area. To my Blind this site is unsuitable owing to the smoke nuisance from the railway engine sheds, which is far worse than the general public are aware. One has only to think of the condition of the open spaces in the industrial centres at Home to realise what the ground and buildings would be like, despite all attempts at beautification. I would instead suggest Judge's Bay be used as a sports ground. With only one opening as it now has for the tide, it will soon become an unsightly, useless, mudflat, similar to that near the corner of Shore and Portland Roads.. The spoil for the filling could be obtained from the proposed dredging of the St. George's Bay yacht anchorage, which I believe is soon to be abolished. The filling could be gradual as soil becomes available, and if the job were started in one corner it would be extending over the whole area as time goes on and keep pace with the growing needs of the city. The reclaimed land would quickly consolidate if temporarily planted with spartina grass, as ueed in parts of France and the fens of England. The scheme could be planned to include a new traffic outlet in the one undertaking. This is very necessary and a new road could be formed starting near the present rowing shed and sweeping round Campbell's Point with a subway for trains, then through the Parnell Park near the small shed above the beach. Here the land below could be terraced in grass down to the sports ground, and the road continued from there in a sweep behind the park buildings to join Gladstone Road near Tararua Terrace. This would give a fine eweepjing roadway similar to Anzac Avenue, but with a lesser grade.—l am, etc., t. Mcknight.