CAROLINE BAY.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 13964, 10 February 1911, Page 9

CAROLINE BAY.

Another great asset of Timaru's, which has no doubt popularised the place not a little, is tlie fine pleasure resort and beach of Caroline Bay. It [ is quite a modern institution, and tho j citizens are indebted to tho Pacific for their present lovely beach. Old resiI dents say that they can quite well remember fishing off the cliffs, which were then washed by the sea, but since the building of the breakwaters, mysterious currents have been caused that ; have gradually resulted in the making of an almost perfect beach of fine white sand, which has covered tlie unsightly shingle, and now spreads a good hundred yards from tho base of the cliffs. Thus has the ocean endeavoured to make amends for its attempt to fill the harbour with shingle! Man hp.s helped Nature to make a beauty spot of Caroline Bay, and since the initial steps wero taken about 1596 by the Mayor (Mr J. J. Grandi), Mr David Stuart, Dr. N. K. Cox and others, the Borough Council and the citizens have worked energetically to make the Bay an ideal resort. The success of the various schemes for the popularising of the Bay has been phenomenal, and the enormous number of holiday-makers and visitors, as well as townsfolk, who patronise it proves conclusively that the £3000 or so that has been laid out on improvements has been well and judiciously expended. PUBLIC SERVICES. There are some fine churches and schools in tho town, and with reference to the former the English Church of St. Mary's, recently completed, tho new Catholic Church (under construction). Chalmer's Church, and Trinity Church will more than bear construction), Chalmers Church, and comparison with edifices in any other town in the Dominion. There is no lack of adequate philanthropic institutions in Timaru. while, owing partly fo the generosity of Mr Andrew Carnegie, there is a very fine library, which has ; the merit of being free to all. The j town is and has been fortunate in having a thoroughly conscientious set j

of men at the head of affairs manicipal, and to their energetic and wisely directed efforts a good deal of tho place's present prosperity reav bt> attributed. The first large increase in the borough boundaries wa& the extension of 189 C, which brought tip the area to 1100 acres, and last year there was a further increase, about 900 acres of the Levels County being taken in. The increases in population havo been rapid; in 1901 tlie estimate was 5000 souls: six years later it had risen to 7615. and to-day tho estimated population of tho borough, including tho new area is about 11,000. The Council supported Mr Craigie, tlie Mayor, in his scheme for the underground drainage ot tho borough. The scheme met with great opposition, but orctttunllv its supporters carried the day, and now the town has an excellent service, which has, however, cost a sum approximating to £50,000. Tlie townsfolk within tlie drainage area are now thoroughly awake to the advantages of this necessary measure, and over 1100 applications for connections to the underground system haj-o been received. Tlie activity of the place may be Sauged somewhat by the fact that urine the last five years, applicatiows for the erection of building to the value of £350,000 have been received. The improvements to the streets have lieen carried out with thoroughness, and so far a sum of £GOOO has been expended in this work; in this connection it may be mentioned that before 1901 there were only 1011 street lamps; now there are 220 thirty candle-power gas lights, and 35 hundred candle-power lights—and it will be only a short time before these will be augmented by ix further addition of 100 30-candle-oower Burners, and there- are also electric lamps. The rise, in the rateable value of the borough is shown in the figures for 1901 (£48,369), when oomnarea with 1910 (£101.794), and if the additional value of that portion of the Levels County recently taken in is added it brings up the total value to £130.000 tax values have risen from £539.659 in 1901 to £2,780,761 in 1908, the last, year the valuation was made. An important municipal work that must not bo forgotten the abattoirs, erected at a cost of £-,300, and under Government inspection. A fine nark of over 50 acres, beautifully laid out, open squares, avenues and spacious sports and athletic grounds, are provided for the public's recreation, while an excellent fresh-water swimming bath, erected at a cost of £650. is another instance of the progressiveness of the City Fathers. With fl splendidly fertile back country, a magnificent climate, first-rate facilities both for business and pleasure, it is little wonder that Timaru has gone ahead in the past, and it may be prophesied with confidence that its progress in the future will be just as great.