ORAKEI BASIN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 187, 9 August 1930, Page 19

ORAKEI BASIN.

DEVELOPMENT SCHEMES.

LEASE FOB FIFTY YEARS

PARK AND ROADING PROPOSALS.

Orakei Basin, which the Auckland City Council decided on Thursday to lease from the Harbour Board for 50 years, lends itself to a great deal of development as a recreation area, but so far no definite plan in this connection has been agreed upon ■Since the railway embankment across the eastern bay was completed, the water in the basin has been kept at a permanent level by means of a sluicegate, which has been lifted weekly by motor in order to prevent the watjr from becoming stagnant. Many schemes for the development of the expanse of water, which, including an estuary of 36 acres, covers an area of 136 acres, have been mooted. Beautification of the banks of the basin with ornamental shrubs, and the construction of a roadway round its entire edge, has been while another popular idea is that the area should be modelled into a marine park, with facilities for swimming and model yachting. Question of Finance. What will ultimately become of the old crater, however, is a matter for conjecture,'as any scheme that might be decided upon is dependent upon available finance. At all events, the City Council has now entered into possession of the basin, and the exact nature of its development is a matter for consderSn P Plans brought, down in the future will, no doubt, incorporate a roS that is dedicated on the southern • j ~t +*io Take and a reserve that the Sld %i has from the Railway g^SbSt- ? 2 P S. north-western side ° f The absence of any definite decision bv the council as to its intentions n regard to the basin may be traced to the fact that negotiations for the lease Have been protracted. Legislation af-ffin-Se matter dates back as far as 1927, when the Auckland Harbour Board Empowering Act was framed empotvering the board to lease the area. 17a meeting of the council last month although the solicitor reported that he saw no objection to the lease being executed, the council was no^ prepared to si<*n the agreement. unless the_ Railway Department indemnified it in regard to any claims that might be made fn connection'with the riparian rights of owners of property abutting on the basin The council then chose to abandon the question of the lease, but it has now reversed its decision. The control of the hasin will be taken over by the council immediately.

Waiatarua Lake. The fate of Waiatarua Lake, which was drained some months ago, is also exercising the consideration of the council. At present the engineer and the superintendent of parks are preparing a report on the subject. This will embrace a suggestion that municipal golf links should be established on the area. The possibility of anything being done in the immediate future is remote, as there is a depth of 30ft of peat and mud yet to be consolidated. '