SHORE EROSION.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 122, 25 May 1936, Page 6

SHORE EROSION.

I read with interest your article on erosion along the shore, particularly that part which deals with attempts to assist Nature in its protective work. You also refer to the.damage done at Milford during the March gale. A careful study of Milford Beach shows that damage always follows or is concurrent with spring tides and easterly winds, the first effect of which is to scour the sand away and lower the level of the beach at high tide mark by several feet. This allows subsequent high tides to have a much greater effect on the sea walls than would be the case if there was no preliminary scour. Before the Takapuna Borough built the concrete sea wall, from Black Rock to Ocean View Road, that part of the coast was a series of little bays, and each hav tended to deflect the ebb tide out into the Channel. With the removal of all these natural tide deflectors, the ebb tide has an uninterrupted sweep, and hits the eastern end of Milford like a mill race. One ebb tide with an accompanying easterly gale will scour out hundreds of tons of sand. If the waterfront at Milford is to have reasonable protection it is up to the Takapuna Borough C'ouncil;to undo the harm its concrete breastwork is doing by the erection of one or more tide deflectors between Black Rock and Ocean View Road, and allow the beach to build up to the sand level that existed before the sewer works were constructed. With this protection and properly constructed sea walls Milford Beach will cease to be a source of worry to the propertv owners. MILFORD.