THE FORESHORE ROAD

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 108, 3 November 1923, Page 13

THE FORESHORE ROAD

YACHT SLIPS IN EVANS BAY

BUILDING OF SEA-WALL. .'

A decision reached in committee, and subsequently confirmed by the City Council, jn respect to road widening in Evans Bay, has.a particular interest to yachtsmen; and swimmers, for it suggests that, sooner or later a drastic rearrangement of boat slips and bathing sheds will be made. The particular point was in regard to the proposed dedication of an eight-foot strip of land for road widening purposes, for which land the council would probably have been called upon to pay compensation, but it was pointed out that under tho Wellington Harbour Board Reclamation and Empowering Act, 1908, the city was given the right to sufficient land.for the construction of the 66-foot road on the landward side of reclamations carried out by the Harbour Board, that: proviso being agreed toby the two bodies concerned at the time when a dock for Wellington was a very livo subject. As the land which it was prpposed should be utilised for the building of a full width foreshore road is within the length affected by that clause of the 1908 Act— i.e., from a point somewhat to the north of the Patent Slip to about the Kilbirnie reclamation, the council finds that its right to sufficient land is already provided for.

Yachtsmen and swimmers are, however, not so interested in the niceties of the position as the law sees it as in the fact that when the road is made full width their sheds and slips must be shifted, but whether or not they will have to be removed right away from their present locations will depend largely on the nature of the road wall. There is ample room, but none too much shelter, at the head of the bay, but in any case their tenure there might not be lasting, for it is quite within the hounds that an old scheme for the reclaiming of tho head of the bay will bo revived, perhaps during the boring of the Ellice street tunnel. In any case, there is consolation in the fact that the widenin" of Evans Bay road raund the indentations occupied by slips and bathing sheds will probably not be taken in hand for some time to come.

At present the City Corporation is going,ahead with the eea-wall at two points—one gang working towards Point Jernmgham from Oriental parade, and the other working north towards the Point from Little Karaka Bay, where at present the roadway is so narrow, due to steady erosion, that lorry drivers ,who attempt to pass at the corner probably take a very fair risk. Further fit"?' Bal! na ' Bay ' : the. «ea-wall takes^a different form, being a sloping breastwork of concrete blocks, with no overhanging parapet. Eventually the full width road will almost certainly be carried nght round the bay, but that is a work for the future. ■