EARLY RECLAMATIONS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 497, 3 May 1909, Page 7

EARLY RECLAMATIONS.

10 _ ■y OLD TIMBERS DISCOVERED. " ;. \Somo_ old-timbers have been co'mo iipoii : excavating for tho foundations of Messrs. 1 Cooper and Soil's' now building oil the corni ■ of Mercer and Willis Street.. It is suppose h that this timber is really the remain? of tl h breastwork of the first reclamation work do: in AVellington. .; This was'' a Btrip of IOOf along the beach on tho eastern side of Will Street; which nearly 60 years , ago expose one sido to tho briny breezes of tho bay. Tl first reclamation extended from. Old Custon house Quay as far down as .Chew's Lane, an was done in 1852-3, under the administratio of Sir George Grey, the spoil being obt'aine from what was then known as Green Hilla good big' hill which stood opposite th e Roman Catholic Church in Boulcott' Strfiel r just behind M'Gill's Buildings. Tho secon 'j ,100 ft.. strip, from Chew's Lane to Hrabou ~ Street, was done by the men of tho 65th R< giment in' 1858-59, under an 'arrangemen with the. Provincial Government. For tha reclamation tho spoil was obtained from th hill or face behind the! Grand, Hotel, ;and'be low,the late Mr. John Plimmor's'property .The i statement that boats were navigate! past' the sito of tho Phoenix Foundry .i hardly.correct, as there was always a lon' : sloping beach off the site of the foundry 1 aiid oven when the 1 first • reclamation wa i made—on a portion of which Messrs. Coope r and Sons' building will stand—tho water wai 1 too Bhallow to permit oven the smallest ves • sels lying alongsido. At spring tides thcr- > was, of course, a greater depth of, water, fo i good springs : (at high water): madk. it -hazard' ous to go along Old Customhouse Quay, t< 1 whoro Messrs. Bethune'and Hunter's build > ing stood, and still stands to-day. There nr< ' many broad ; acres, supporting blocks ol towering warehouses and institutions be- ! tween old beach-line and the present 1 water-front. • ■ .