BOAT HARBOUR.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 278, 24 November 1938, Page 9

BOAT HARBOUR.

IMPROVEMENT PLAN. WORK NEARING COMPLETION. CONFERENCE TO BE HELD. The comprehensive scheme being carried out by the Auckland Harbour Board for the improvement of St. Mary's Bay boat, harbour is nearing completion, and in (ibout two months the suction dredge. which has been deepening the basin and providing spoil for the roadway, liaul-injr-up sites and other reclamation, will have finished its task. The viaduct over .Shelly Beach Reef to connect with a 40ft roadway alonjr the protecting wall as far as the gap in the centre has been built, and a meeting of boating clubs and all other organisations interested in the scheme will be called soon by the board to finalise plans in respect to the erection of boat houses and the installation of tram lines for hauling' up and other equipment. Residents in the vicinity of the boat harbour have been a little concerned during recent months, as they formed the opinion that the bay was shoaling inshore, and they were curious t» ascertain whether the dredging operations close to the breakwater bad had thej effect of emptying the deeper parts of the harbour ctese to the foreshore. Inquiries at the offices of the Harbour Board, and examination of the Admiralty chart issued in 1911, show that the fears of the residents are groundless, and that the apparent shoaling is due entirely to the exceptionally low spring tides of which there have been several this year. The chart indicates that St. Mary's Bay has always been a shallow area, and at low tide three and four feet of dry land is disclosed at the end of the jetty. Pooling Resources. The superintendent of the board, Mr. D. Holderness. said to-day that it was MciMuy to consult the representatives

of boating organisations so that there could be, in effect, a pooling of resources. What the board aimed at was something worthy of the district. The area was not to be spoiled by indiscriminate building or treatment. It was possible that a scheme would be decided upon to embrace a community hall where prizegivings could take place, and other such functions.

Mr. Holderness said it was not contemplated that the dredge should do more than the original scheme provided —reclaim sufficient spoil from the basin to fill in the roadway, shed sites, etc. When that work was finished there would be no place connected with the scheme for depositing the spoil, and it would be too costly to take it out to sea and dump jt. Later on, however, new plans miprht be made for still furIther deepening tlie harbour.

The scheme was authorised in February of last year, the estimated cost being £32.000, the Employment Promotion Fund providing a subsidy of £1(1.000. Work was commenced in the following April. The roadway beinjr constructed, which is really a widening of the breakwater, is in effect a continuation of Curran Street, and is to provide access to the proposed boat sheds and hauling up sites. ' j

The construction of the stone breakwater from Point Erin, eastward across St. Mary's Bay. to enclose an area of 215 acres, as a harbour for pleasure craft, was derided upon by the Harbour Board in 11)26 and wag built at a cost of £">O.OOO. At the time it was regarded as the first and principal part of a scheme to cost eventually £85.000, the items left over then being the road access to the breakwater, the filling in of the roadway and hauling-up sites, and dredging to provide sufficient depth of water to accommodate yachts and launches. The Breakwater. The breakwater was completed in 1930, and the second and final part of the programme would normally have followed, but owing to the depression the board postponed further expenditure until finances were in a more buoyant state. It was on receipt of thr*' Government's promise of a subsidy that the scheme was proceeded with early last year. Another work which is closely associated with the boat harbour is the recent extension of St. Mary's Boad

by the City Council. This gives access to the waters edge and is greatly appreciated by boat owners. The road replaces the flight of wooden steps that previously was the only means of access to the beach.

At present the boat harbour has accommodation for approximately 2-30 boats and when the work now in hand is completed all these boats can be [moored in the dredged area, leaving [accommodation for a large number of small critft in the shallower portions of the harbour.