TEKAPO VILLAGE

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22432, 20 June 1938, Page 10

TEKAPO VILLAGE

HIGHER TOWNSHIP PLANNED above all future lake RISINGS A town-planning scheme for the Tekapo village e£ tbe future lias been drawn up by an advisory committee and submitted to the Town Planning Board. With the raising of the level of Lake Tekapo by 14 feet and the probability of a further raising to SO feet within the next 10 years, provision is being made for a new village higher up the bill. Forty years ago town sections were surveyed at Tekapo village, and were placed oh the market periodically by the Lands and Survey Department as the demand by the public arose. Since the raising of the lake became unm nent within the last two yoors. sale of sections has been Withheld. A lake level 30 feet higher than the natural mark would completely sudmerge the 40 existing town sections, on which no more than five cottages have been built, the picturesque stone church would stand remote on an island, and the camping ground and the ice skating rink would be under water. From the scenic point of view, tne building of a dam to raise the waters of Lake Tekapo will seriously detract from the charms of Tekapo, Mr T. DBurnett. M.P. said in an interview with “The Press.” The existing town sections will not be flooded, and th church will also be saved by the present scheme of raising the level by 14 feet. However, both the celebrated bridge and Tekapo House will be made useless; and if the original intention of a dam to elevate the level by 30 feet had been carried out, Tekapo House would be submerged to the top storey and many of the sections would be flooded. Most of the 40 acres of flat land will be affected by the lake rising, and although concern has been expressed that this aiea will not be available for the future development of Tekapo village, the advisory committee has prepared plans for all eventualities from hydro-elec-tric work in the district.

Planning 100 Years Ahead As soon as the area is defined, the Internal Affairs Department will declare an extra urban planning district at Tekapo, which is envisaged as being not merely'a sanatorium but a place where persons in poor health can be built up. ‘'Tekapo is a sun resort,” said Mr J. F. D. Jeune, engineer to the Mackenzie County Council, when discussing the situation. It is one of the four places in New Zealand which head the list for sunshine recording. Tekapo has that rare_ combination of sunshine and mountain air, and has no peSts such as mosquities, ants, and blowflies. Storms are or short duration, and are followed by sunshine, while most rainfalls are recorded during the night.” The committee is planning 100 years ahead and is keeping to the forefron. the attractiveness of Tekapo to inhabitants of Sydney and Brisbane for visits when travel is made by air across the Tasman. The heat at Tekapo is not unbearable, because of the altitude, although the sun’s rays are strong.

Proposed Scenic Road

The streets which have been marked out for the hillside are named after personalities whose names will be always remembered in the Mackenzie Country. The memories of Burke, Mackenzie, Sealpy, and Godley are perpetuated in the street naming. of the planned town. The new Tekapo House will be built on high land halt a mile nearer its present location on the Timsru side, and it is proposed that the main road will be brought in at a level of 160 feet above the existing surface of the lake. It w r ill run through the probable village, and a deviation will be made frbm it with a highway running to Mackenzie’s Lookout and' along the summit, from which a marvellous view of Lake Tekapo and the Godley Valley is obtainable. The agitation for the declaration of all land bordering Lake Tekapo above the 14-feet contour level has not ceased. It is feared that no matter what agreement may be made now—and the Government has not given any assurance that the lake will not be raised to 30 feet in later years—future Governments will not be bound unless the area above the 14-feet level is declared a national reservation.'

The plans the, advisory committee is submitting to the Internal Affairs Department include camping grounds and sites for week-end cottages and chalets. An experiment with the heating rays of the sun is proposed by Dir. E. S. Stubbs, of Oamaru, who has in mind the erection of open-air baths, the waters of which will be heated by the sun.

A strong point has been made in former agitations that the “anglers’ paradise,” Lake Alexandrina, situated to the 'west of Lake Tekapo, would be ruined by the raising by 30 feet ct the level of the bigger lake. The contemplated surface raising of 14 feet will not affect Alexandrina nor the plantations, now almost reaching maturity, made by the Mackenzie County Council. The first part of the Tekapo plantation was planted before 1898,' and further extensions have been held up until the intentions of the Government to raise the lake were definitely known.