DEVELOPMENT IN HUTT VALLEY

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 52, 24 November 1928, Page 10

DEVELOPMENT IN HUTT VALLEY

FAR-REACHING PROJECTS UNDER WAY OPENING UP WAINUI VALLEY PLANS FOR BIG TUNNEL SHORTER ROUTE TO EASTBOURNE ' Rapid as has been the development in the Hutt Valley during the past few years, still further important projects are planned for the near future. These include the development of the industrial area in the vicinity of the mouth of,the Hutt River, and the opening up, by the driving of a traffic tunnel, of the Wainui Valley. Developments in the Hutt Valley are proceeding apace. As announced in “The Dominion” on. Thursday, a new woollen mill is shortly to be established. Since then a three-acre site has been acquired for the manufacture of concrete pipes and other concrete products. A survey is being made of the Wainui Hill just by the pipe line for the construction of a tun- ■ nel a little , over 1000 yards long on a very easy grade, to open up some thousands of acres of magnificent flat ■> land in the Wainui Valley, and tenders 'are to be invited and a. contract let for the work to be done immediately. A deviation is being made over the. Waiwhetu stream to the Day’s' Bay road which will shorten the present . run to Eastbourne by three-quarters of . ; a mile. Still Further Development. Much has been written about the ■ new railway through the Hutt Valley and the Moera settlemqnt, but. these only, form a. portion; and give a lead to other developments which have taken place since , or will be . given practical .effect, to in the very near future: The industrial area is making such progress that the land available, which is being-taken up in blocks of one to ten acres, will soon be disposed of? But further steps, are on the way ' in the direction of reclamation, which ; will bring In some hundreds of acres round the estuaries of the river and in the shoal waters which it is iutend- . ed to' turn to industrial purposes. The keenest of interest prevails in regard-to a.scheme to establish a great works down in this area for the manufacture of:products from coal —such valuable products as benzoline, crude oils,,deisel oil; fuel oils, disinfectants, . dies, sulphates; and still leaving a residue of fuel of r greater calorific-value than tfie Original coal. - This is the industry which it is confidently stated ‘will be able to supply Wellington and the Hutt with gas at a price .ridiculously cheap as eompar.cd to the prices obtaining to-day. This being the case, it will be a tremendous inducement to manufacturers requiring a great deal of heating for such .. . purposes.. aS' confectionery : and biscuitmaking. to go ..there; as the. immense . saving-in the price of gas will make a tremendous saving in manufacture costs. Neither coal nor electricity would be able to compete with gas in these directions dn account of the cost. This company has secured an area of land of about twenty acres, and as the engineer is expected to arrive in Wellington in about a month’s time, it is anticipated that there will . be little delay in proceeding with the project, which will help to give new life to the coal-mining industry in New Zealand., It is impossible to fully realise at. present what it will mean to the Hutt Valley. ■ Already a tentative arrangement has been made to continue the industrial ’ railway line right through the area to Point Howard, a length of about a • mile and a half. Provisional arrangements have also been made with the Wellington Harbour Board to erect a wharf at Point Howard to accommodate deep-water vessels, for this water is outside the shoal area and has the requisite depth. It is understood that the Harbour Board requires a guarantee of approximately’ 100,000 tons of shipping a year in order to finance this part of the scheme. Three acres have been acquired by a new company, in which well-known local firms - are interested —including contractors of the Welghsco Pressed Brick Company—for the manufacturing of concrete products of all kluds on a very substantial scale. Another six acres has been purchased on behalf of a hardwood timber company, and several other inquiries are afoot,, some negotiations being nearly completed. Firms which have in the past been cramped for space for. their operations in cities are favourably impressed with the possibilities. A sewerage , service is now being installed by the Lower Hutt Borough on behalf of the Lauds Department, and lands which have been water-bound in flood times will be drained and will be swampy up longer, This was clearly demonstrated yesterday to a “Dominion” representative, who saw the great pipes being laid in concrete which will drain the water away, and which at the present time is being pumped Out of the trench by six pumps, each pumping 250 gallons a minute. A pencil and paper will give an instructive idea as to the volume of water which is being brought under control. High-pressure water services are also being installed. Rapid Building Progress. Even during the period of depression building had reached a high-water mai-k in the Hutt Valley, and a line on a graph is almost perpendicular in its record of building activities. To. say that building business and residential premises in the Lower Hutt Borough alone are going up at the rate of half a million sterling a year is a moderate ' estimate, and the figures are still increasing, so that with the depression gone by, the prospects for the future are excellent. The borough will not appreciably feel the benefit of the rates coming from these sources, as it has only just begun to collect on the Government subdivisions, but there will be enough to clear the expenditure. When the land is taken up and developed, Lower Hutt will be one of the lowest, rated boroughs in the Dominion. Walnui-o-Mata Tunnel. One of the most interesting and important developments taking place at

the present time is that in connection with Wainui-o-mata and the link which will’ connect the Valley with Lower Hutt. The long-talked-of traffic tunnel through the Wainui Hill is on tlie verge of fruition, for the survey is now proceeding, and as soon as it is ready tenders will be called for the construction and the work will be proceeded with Immediately. The route of the proposed tunnel, which will be on quite an easy grade, will be from the junction of Park Road and Graeefield Road, ..practically in line with Park Road, through into Wainui valley, an area of soriie thousands of acres of. flat, rich and fertile land lying inside the-hills like a basin. The tunnel will be 50 chains (about. 1100 yards) in length. The Wainui Valley has been - completely “town-planned” for settlement, and the tunnel- will bring it within a comparatively short distance of the Hutt, township, and no further from Wellington."by road than Eastbourne or Day’s Bay—possibly a little- nearer. . Provision has been made for recreation areas, school sites, business premises and for the development of the township on the most modern lines. Arrangements have been made by which the buses under the ownership of the Railway Department will run an adequate ■ service as developments proceed, and the area will also be directly- linked- up with Wellington, Hutt and Petone as soon as the lines are electrified and the population warrants the. junction being made. These are hot provisional arrangements, but have been definitely formulated. Electricity, gas and water services will, of course, be installed. • Cutting Eastbourne Route. A new deviation which is now being carried out is a. new road from Randwick Road below the pipe bridge; , crossing the estuary of the .Waiwhetu stream, and. joining up with Day’s Bay Road, cutting of a distance of three-quarters -of a mile in the run between Petone and Eastbourne, and giving an almost direct line from Petone to a point north of Point Howard. A further short length of new road will’-link. up. the Day’s Bay road with the old main road On the east side of the valley, and Which has been widened and improved, beyond recognition, giving a clear, straight run from Eastbourne, Petone, and Hutt up to the Taita Gorge. Steps have been taken to prevent or reduce the flooding on Moera settlement and in the area between the Hutt Park and the township,. The weed is now being cleaned out-of the Waiwhetu stream, allowing the water freer access to the harbour and preventing backing up further inland.-The

present swamp land between Park Road and the foreshore will be drained and levelled, and will be made an addition to the industrial area. This is where the deviation is now going on.

Aeroplane Landing Ground.

Claims are being made for Gear Island as an ideal air port? for here are 140 acres of flat land with approaches clear of telegraph and electrical’wires, a bridge at either end giving access to the island, with ample room for all sports and a golf links round the outer'edge, Entirely surrounded by wafer, is another asset in its favour. It belongs to the Hutt River Board,- which body is quite willing for it-to be set aside for such purposes. The River Board also has an area of about 260 acres which is to be develop-ed'-along industrial lines. .

One Large Borough.

As the Mayor of Lower Hutt, Mr. W. T. Strand, stated yesterday, the time seems to have arrived with all these great developments—which affect Lower Hutt, Hutt County, Petone, and Eastbourne —when all the local autb orlties should be merged into one large corporation with power to handle these things as a- united body. This would enable the whole of this great area jn the valley to be developed systematically instead of -in piecemeal fashion, each local authority “ganging its own gait.” The various areas and activities can then be "hived” off and progress made at a greater rate and at less cost. -