THE NEW MARINE PARADE

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 98, 19 January 1933, Page 17 (Supplement)

THE NEW MARINE PARADE

Napier’s Great Scenic Asset

TASK OF BEAUTIFYING APPROACHES COMPLETION Crashing and frothing, then murmuring in musical cadences that die into the distance only io be repeated again and again, eternally, the waves of the Pacific come to wash Napier’s strand. So they came when the great curving shore—most beautiful feature of a beautiful town —was but a virgin shingle bed bordering the scattered houses of an infant settlement. So they came on a black day two years ago when men, women, and children fled from blazing ruins and sought safety at the very water’s edge. So they will come when, to-morrow, Napier’s waterfront is transformed into an exquisite place of flowers and playgrounds, of green trees, neat zvalks, grass and garden—all these things with which man can enhance the artistry of nature. Much has already been done. Napier’s famous Marine Parade has been as greatly altered in appearance since the earthquake as any reconstructed building in the town itself. But much remains to be added if the full programme prepared by citizens is carried out. Arid when the „• finishing touches are complete the Napier seafront will take a proud place among New Zealand’s premier tourist attractions.

—~—IT is with a full appreciation of the future and all that it holds for the reborn town that Napier citizens stand on the Marine Parade, and, pointing to the waterfront, say : “But for the tragedy and suffering of the quake, this would have been worth it.’’

that otherwise would have been carted through the town. To provide the soil it was planned originally that motorists should undertake to make trips out of town, returning with sacks of good loam, but ultimately it was found that sufflcient blaek soil could be obtained from the reservoir, and other necessary works that were being pushed ahead. Thus flower gardens and lawns have been laid and completed within the last year. Working with unemployed labour, the borough gardeners have wrought a change on the foreshore beyond the parade that comes as a delightful surprise to visitors who knew

To-day that sentiment is encountered everywhere —among business people whose reconstructed shops are second to none in the Dominion, among civic authorities who are creating a city of wide, clean streets, perfectly surfaced, and among the people as a whole in 7 whose hands the destiny of the New Napier lies. Especially is it emphasised, however, in the case of the seafront, which has been vastly improved by the upheaval, both directly and indirectly. Before the earthquake everything practicable had been done to improve Marine Parade,'but several natural disadvantages were in the way of its de velopment as a civic amenity and tour ist attraction. The beach was com paratively narrow. At high tide in stormy weather it practically disappeared under white breakers, and there have been times when water has almost invaded the town. Also, it was not a sand beach. Nature, who endowed Napier so magnificently, withheld that final touch of completeness. A Swift Dramatic Stroke. In changing the seafront by meanof the earthquake it has been as though Nature, regretting her imperfection, decided to make amends with a swift, dramatic stroke. Within a few hours or February 3, 1931, the shore had risen by as much as seven feet. The sea re ceded, widening the beach to a minimum of 100 feet, and automatically re moving for all time the problem of ere sion and the danger of high tides en abling water to reach the parade. What is still more remarkable, one effect of the change in the ,4hore line, is that sand is making and a bathing lieach is forming. It is true that, so far, this is occurring only in patches, but the process is going steadily on, and as qpe walks southward from the baths at half-time, enough sand is encountered to justify a claim that already Napier possesses a bathing beach worthy of pride. In addition the shallowing of the wafer in front of the town means safer bathing. Thanks to the activities of the Napier Citizens’ Reconstruction Committee, the Civic Commissioners, and the Town Planning Committee, full advantage has been taken of the opportunity to improve the Marine Parade. After a scheme had been decided upon and plans were prepared, debris of a suitable nature was carted to the foreshore and tipped on the shingle immediately to the seaward side of the existing stone wall. This was followed by a clay and rotten rock from the huge slip under the Bluff, and lastly a layer of black soil. Work Was Not Expensive. The foundation layers -involved very little cost; in fact the action was an economical one in that it provided a handy dumping ground for the rubble.

and admired the Napier of old. So far this newly-formed. extension of the parade, which, incidentally, is on the same level as the footpath, with its row of rustling pines, extends from the swimming baths to a point immediately in front of the Masonic Hotel site, where it broadens into a large open-air auditorium IGO feet by 90 feet. On this generous area of concrete many of'the carnival festivities and Mardi Gras attractions will be held. Between the swimming baths and the first of the garden plots a children’s playground has been formed and equipped with up-to-d.ate apparatus.

Five New Tennis Courts. On the southern side of the auditorium five tennis courts are being pre pared and, beyond that, a driveway and parking area is to be formed. The area as a whole, which extends from the swimming baths to Albion Lane, is IGSO feet in length. By the time Napier’s carnival is in full swing most of this work will be completed. For weeks the gardens be tween the auditorium and the swim-ming-baths have been in bloom, the profusion of colour in the borders and the green of the grass contrasting delightfully with the sloping beach and the sea. It is indeed difficult to realise that the work is much less than two years old, that it represents a minor achievement of a community still convalescing from New Zealand’s greatest disaster. So much for the opin ions of those who predicted that Napier was ruined, that it would be abandoned and left desolate. But the foregoing does not embrace the entire Marine Parade scheme. Hanging on a wall of the office of Mr R M. Chadwick, secretary of the reconstruction committee, is a map which shows a waterfront still further enhanced. When sufficient finance is available there may be built immediately in front of the auditorium bathing facilities in the form of a staging extending outward in a half-moon. And later the beautifying of the seafront will extend from the breakwater, past the Bluff, and southward to the limits of the town. " Bluff Overhang Now Removed. The present condition of the Bluff is an instance of the fact that the earthquake, like many another ill of lesser magnitude, has blown an appreciable amount of good. The great cliffs that are Napier’s landmark for seamen have been made safe. In the past they were never so; in fact, not long before the earthquake two young people were killed in a motor-ear by a slip that came down on the road leading to the breakwater.

There had been a talk of blasting away portion of the overhanging material and forming a batter, but this task was completed in the twinkling of an eye on the day of the quake when thousands of tons of rock and spoil thundered down and flowed over the road and into the sea. To-day the reformed road skirts the edge of the great slip which may be —though there is still and always will be uncertainty upon this point—the common tomb of missing earthquake victims. A Cabaret on an Arch. For the more distant future a still more ambitious project lias been mooted. Immediately to the right as one faces seaward from the Masonic .Hotel is a piece of borough-owned property —the Y.M.C.A. corner. It is suggested to erect on that site a building the upper- story of which will extend outward and over the parade forming a high arch, possibly 40 feet in width, the top of which will be a glassed-in cabaret floor and observation lounge. Access to the cabaret from the seaward side would lie gained by means of a flight of steps leading from the beach, while the premises would be entered from the town side through the building—probably a tea-rooms —on the Y.M.C.A. site Absorbing a Borough Block. A general understanding appears to have been reached among borough administrators that the triangular block enclosed by Marine Parade, llerschell Street, and Browning Street, shall be earmarked for ultimate inclusion as part of the waterfront gardens and recreation area. This borough property, on which stand a number of old wooden buildings. including the council offices, the public library, and the courthouse, suffered less as a result of the earthquake than any other citv block In

Napier. Ironically enough, it was one block the destruction of which by fire would have occasioned comparatively little concern, but the wind blowing from the sea kept the flames out of reach. On one side of Hersehell Street a roaring holocaust ate up splendid modern buildings of brick and concrete. On the other paint blistered off a row of inviting wooden walls but that was ail. If present intentions are realised the buildings and borough offices on the block will be removed one by one. to be replaced by lawns, flower Iteds. and possibly an extension of the children’s playing area which is immediately in front of the northern end. The effect will be twofold. Not only will the appearance of that end of the parade be further improved, but a dignified, attractive approach will be created within a few hundred yards of one of the busiest parts of the town. Praise for Superintendent. No description of the Marine Parade improvements would be complete without reference to the work of Napier’s Sii]>erinteiident of Reserves. Mr. C. W. Corner, who deserves full credit for the carrying out of the work on lines suggested by the associated architects of the town and laid down by the Reconstruction Committee. The newly-form-ed flower beds were laid out by unemployed labour under Mr. Corner’s supervision, and it is largely the result of his enthusiasm and diligence that the transformation has been so sneedy and complete Incidentally the restoration of Nelson Park is another achievement of which Mr. Corner may be proud. The trim sward and surrounding gardens and shrubs are now practically as they were before the 'quake. Mr. Corner has yet to face the problem of restoring Clive Square after the temporary business premises have been removed.

A minor tragedy of the earthquake was the removal, tinder the urge of stern necessity, of several beautiful palms from the site of “tin town.” as the community shops are familiarly known. Large bare spaces will be toft wiion “tin town” goes, and Mr.

Corner’s ingenuity will again be Jested. Already he has nursed back to health the Norfolk pines on Marine Parade. Only two of these trees died as a result of being disturbed after the ’quake. A third, though greatly weakened, was gradually revived by the Superintendent of Reserves, who. it is said, tended his mute charge like a mother with her child. Value of the New Parade. The strong existing faith in the future of Napier is encouraged in no small measure by a general realisation of all that the transformation of Marine Parade and the beach means to the town. Opinions on the subject are