MILFORD BEACH.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 211, 7 September 1927, Page 11

MILFORD BEACH.

THAT FORESHORE CULVERT.

TENDER ACCEPTED.

SEA WALL TO OCEAN VIEW ROAD.

"At the present time wanton destruction is being wrought to a very fine beach by the taking away of large quantities of sand; if that is stopped a good service will have been rendered to the borough, and particularly to the owners on the waterfront." This paragraph from a report of the Takapuna Borough engineer (Mr. A. Slinger) sums up what a lot of the Milford people hare thought for a long time. If Milford's beach goes, more than half the charm of Milford goes with it. At a special meeting of the council the tender of Mr. W. Stephenson was provisionally accepted for the construction of what is known as the "Milford Storage Culvert." It was originally intended that this culvert should go right round the waterfront, fulfilling two uses—one to provide much-needed sewerage, and also to form the seawall of what would have been a magnificent esplanade right round one of the Hauraki's most characteristic waterfronts. Tenders were received from eight firms. They were alternative, for what is known as the "back line" and for the "foreshore," and ranged from £28.857 (backline) and £22,656 (foreshore) down to Mr. Stephenson's £18,747 (backline) and £15.979 (foreshore). The mean of the tenders worked out at £25,562 for the backline and £20,577 for the foreshore. When the matter came up at the special meeting Mr. Davis moved, and Mr. Hayden seconded, that the tender for the backline be accepted, but Mr. Gould moved, and the Mayor seconded, that the tender for the foreshore line be accepted, and the latter was carried. Those voting for the foreshore line were the Mayor, Messrs Gould, Close, Malcolm and Wilkins; and those for the backline were Messrs Davis, Guiniven, Hayden and Seaman.

mlt is understood that the foreshore line win be followed as far as Ocean View Road, and from there it will go at the back of the waterfront properties facing Milford Beach. Lost Opportunity. "I cannot for the life of me understand why these Milford people object to having the foreshore line protected by a fine wall," said a Milford resident to a "Star" reporter this morning. "At the present time sand is being carted away wholesale, a great hole is left, and does not fill up until the next northeaster blows, and then it is no sooner filled up than it is dug out again and more sand carted away. The beach to-day is as crooked as a dog's hind leg. Here you will find bits of the bank in their natural state, only eaten out by the gales until the original boundary is now well covered with sand; there you will find bits of stone and concrete walls round which the tide has eaten and left them standing out on the beach far from the real boundary of the sections, which has been washed away. There isn't a more untidy beach front in the whole of the Hauraki Gulf."

Many people express regret that the culvert is not to go right along Milford Beach, and so form an esplanade, but there is some talk about this objection being got over by means of the Town Planning Act which seems to contain provisions that contemplate such a situation as has arisen at Milford.

It is understood that the successful tenderer for the culvert will not start work right away. Owing to the fact that the direction of the culvert was changed, fresh notices have to be served on some of the property owners concerned, and this will take several weeks. As now proposed the culvert will make practically a sea wall from the outfall right round the rocks to Ocean View Road, and then turn inshore. This means that the culvert will be a sea wall for about half the distance proposed in the fine scheme outlined by the borough engineer.