POINTS FROM LETTERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 285, 1 December 1936, Page 14

POINTS FROM LETTERS.

MISSION BAY.

Probably some thousands of pouuds are spent on the maintenance of our parks and reserves, but in the matter of cleanliness and tidiness, Mission Bay beach continues to be nobody's business. Lnst summer the beach was constantly littered with decaying washed-up twigs, vegetation, dried seaweed and picnic refuse, deposited within an area extending a few feet from the retaining wall. A beach attendant, on occasions, removed some of the. picnic litter, but more often than not left it undisturbed. I visited the beach last Saturday afternoon, and the beach was then in the condition described. I again visited it on the following morning, and its condition was unchanged, and it remained so throughout the day. In order to obtain a semi-clean space, I raked away a mass of decaying vegetation, seaweed and picnic refuse, but the resultant smell prompted nie to move elsewhere. It is extraordinary that Auckland's most convenient and popular beach should be so neglected, and it is to be hoped that the authority responsible for its cleanliness will take steps to establish a constant and efficient cleaning-up system. In view of the presence of thousands of visitors during week ends, it is not too mu?h to expect that special attention might- be given to the matter, if only as contributing to the enjoyment of visitors apart from the common association of cleanliness and health. The matter of personal health demands a clean beach. Unclean sand in close and extended contact with limbs and body promotes skin irritation and disease —a frequent unpleasant experience on sonic crowded Australian beaches. DOCTOR.

[The city engineer, Mr. .T. Tyler, stated that arrangements had been made to keep the beach and its surroundings tidy, and that the beach would receive particular attention immediately before and after holidays, or other occasions when large numbers of people go to Mission Bav.l