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Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 98, 19 January 1933, Page 21 (Supplement)

Jetties, gaunt and deserted, project from what was once the shore, their piles still firm in the dusty soil. Posts that previously marked the channels stand forlorn amid the waving grasses. At Westshore was a row of seaside cobtages and houses including the charming property of the Mayor of Napier, Mr. J. Vigor Brown. The dwellings and boathouses remain but the adjective "seaside” is a mockery, for the water has disappeared and the shore line is now the northern border of the flats. Small craft, motor-boats and sailing vessels, still lie in the dry beds of what, two years ago, were channels giving access to the harbour. Now- far from the sea these little ships for the time being apparently have been abandoned. Some day, no doubt, they will be moved laboriously’ across the flats and refloated. For the present, however, it is possible to see the incongruous sight of a man with a team of horses operating a plough beside the hull of a stranded yawl. On an area not far from Westshore a flying field is being prepared, the flat surface and level surroundings being ideal for the purpose. Bay View Land Improved. Near Bay View landholders apart from the damage to their houses and personal belongings, have in many cases benefited considerably as a result of the earthquake. Sections which previously were marshy, second or third-class land, unfit for intensive cultivation, are now carrying heavy crops of vegetables. At this point the breaking in of the quake-reclaimed land is proceeding fairly rapidly, as the surface in the past, though damp, was not tidal. On the edges of the flats at Park Island the conditions are similar, and there a large section vested in the Hospital Board is nearly ready for treatment and cultivation. To return to the gains in land made by the Napier Harbour Board as a result of the earthquake, mention must also be made of the two areas at Port Ahuriri known as the North Pond and the South Pond. These ponds, or la-goons—-the terms are now as misleading as the title Ahuriri Lagoon as applied to the flats—are situated in the heart of the port town, one flanked by Battery Road, Raglan Street, and a continuation of Bridge Street; the other partly surrounded by Battery Road and bordered on the sea side by Hyderabad Road. They had been partly reclaimed before the earthquake, but the task, by reason of the upheaval, is now almost complete. In one pond lies a small patch of water, the drainage of which will present no difficulties. The remaining portions of both areas are as dry as the proverbial bone, and represent valuable building sites for future extensions of the port’s stores and manufacturing industries.

There is a striking contrast between the Old Napier and the New—the rambling residential area on Scinde Island and the smart, modern business centre on the flat. Visitors who, after admiring the rebuilt areas, ramble on the slopes of the hill, will find themselves in a place apart, where streets and roads without benefit of town-planning as if is known to-day, wind in and out in charmingly bewildering fashion, twisting over ridges or “coming down like salmon rivers” to the lower levels. Many handsome modern homes are dotted among the trees and shrubberies of Scinde Island, but old and picturesque houses predominate. They complete the picture formed by the meandering streets and lanes. There is an air of quiet on Scinde Island that contrasts with the bustle on the flat below and at the port. Here and there are glimpses of the sea, luring the visitor to further exploration. And it is not necessary to journey far before one is rewarded by glorious views of the ocean and the glorious country of Hawke's Bay, spreading map-like toward the distant ranges