NATIVE TEEES DESTROYED

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22705, 9 May 1939, Page 15

NATIVE TEEES DESTROYED

* SURVEYORS’ LINE FOR NEW ROAD GOVERNOR’S BAY PROPOSAL Surveyors’ lines cutting through some of the few remaining patches of bush at Governor’s Bay have destroyed highly-valued native trees. The bush has been the haunt of comparatively rare native birds, and among occupiers of land in the neighbourhood it is feared that irreparable damage will be done. The surveys have been made for the Pic Works Department, to a m which it is planned to take from the foot of the Governor’s Bay hill where the Kiwi and Lyttelton roads join, to the old beach road at the jetty. This stretch of the road, several chains long, would enable motorists coming down from the Sign of the Kiwi or from Lyttelton to travel roundthe waterfront for about three miles to Allandale. With the bush as it now stands this would be a fine scenic drive. It would involve, as well as the construction of a new road, the widening of the existing beach road, which has been narrow for general traffic. Mr F. Langbein, District Public Works Engineer, explained that it had not yet been definitely decided to cut a road along the edge of the beach. So far only a few surveyors’ lines had been put through to determine the feasibility or otherwise of the project. The road, Mr Langbein said, was proposed as a scenic drive. The cost had yet to be determined and a decision made. The bush is one of the few remaining about the Lyttelton Harbour, and has particular value in that it is so near to the city and has been the home for so long of native birds, which, with the construction of the road, may be driven to more distant places.