TAKAPUNA BEACHES.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 138, 13 June 1929, Page 7

TAKAPUNA BEACHES.

COUNCIL'S FIRM STAND.

PRESERVATION NECESSARY

RIGHTS OF PUBLIC.

"Takapuna will lose its beaches unless the council insists that the old survey line is adhered to," said the borough engineer (Mr. A. Slingcr) at yesterday's meeting of the Borough Council when a letter was received from Mr. S. A. Dibble asking for a conference on the question of fixing the mean high water mark on Takapuna Beach. Mr. Slinger advised the council to fight the proposal strenuously, and it was unanimously resolved to insist upon the line as at present defined. ':'{>'■ •

"It is the determination of the council to preserve the beaches for the public for all time," said the Deputy-Mayor (Mr. J. W. Hayden) to-day. He explained that when the council granted subdivisions of land the law enacted that five per cent of the area Bhould be handed over as a reserve. It had generally been the custom in the case of shore properties that the beach frontages should be made over to the borough, bo as to insure public rights to the foreshore. The majority of owners had given this without demur. The principle advocated by Mr. Dibble was one that the council would never agree to, for it would mean in some cases that the boundary of the properties would be 10 to 12 feet nearer the sea than at present. "We' have no intention of depriving the owners of their riparian rights," said Mr. Hayden, "but we intend to fight strenuously any proposal which would imperil public rights on the beaches at Takapuna."