CITY AND HARBOUR

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 22, 26 July 1927, Page 10

CITY AND HARBOUR

THORNDON ESPLANADE

AND EVANS BAY EXCHANGE

KECKEATION BY THE SEA

It is a very long time Bince first mention was made of a proposal to exchange an area of land—still to be reclaimed—at the head of Evans Bay for what was in its brighter days Wellington's showiest walk of all, Thorndon Esplanade, now to be thrown into the big reclamation scheme, but as far as the general public is aware, the proposal is still a proposal. Nothing definite has ever been announced. Negotiations have this way of stretching themselves out over many months, even years, particularly when the amounts involved are considerable, and in this case, it is understood, a very high valuation was placed upon Thorndon Esplanade by the city. - It may be remarked here that under a special legislative provision it was originally provided that any moneys received by the city in compensation for the taking of the Esplanade should be devoted to the improvement of parks and reserves, but by a clause in the Washing-Up Bill of a session or two ago the council was -given the right to expend a part of the money upon the widening of Wakefield street, between Taranaki street and Clyde quay. That work has been carried out, though the settling of the Esplanade account has still to be made. Negotiations between the two parties may be greatly protracted, but this case is a triangular affair, between the city, the Harbour Board, and the Bailway Department, and from what few crumbs of information are available it appears that no one of the three parties is satisfied with what the other two have proposed. ■ If that is so the way out must be through the Compensation Court. A PKOBABLE EXCHANGE. If only the City Council and the Harbour Board were concerned it might be possible to square the account by a straight-out exchange, for just as the Esplanade is of prime importance to the fulfilment of the Thorndon reclamation scheme, so the safeguarding of bathing facilities and the securing of additional reclaimed land at the head of Evans Bay is regarded as extremely desirable by the City Gouneil. An exchange of this kind is almost certain to be made, in whole or part settlement between the City Council and the Harbour Board. TO-MORROW'S EATHINO POOL. Everyone who takes the trouble to walk down to Thorndon, or up the hill to Wadestown, can see for himself the extent of the Thorndon reclamation. (At some date in the future, when the Government thinks, fit, he may even be told how the new station is to be laid out, a long long time ahead.) The Evans Bay reclamation is still a paper, work, but. roughly the proposal is that the east-west wall across the head of the bay will run from the southern end of the heavy concrete walling in almost a straight line towards Henry street, on the Kilbiruie side of the bay, but about half-wav across, the wall will take a half turn up the. bay, then another half turn to bring it parallel with the general shore line, and so will carry on towards the Patent Slip. When this scheme is carried out the present bathing area will be ten or twelve chains inside the wall, and the proposal to preserve bathing facilities sketchily outlined from time to time, is that an inner pool shall be retained inside the wall, to fill and empty with the tides. If the bathing place is so retained it will apparently be done by courtesy of the Harbour Board, not by demand of the City Council, for the council appears to have few rights in regard to the manner of reclamation. From what can be gathered, however, the setting aside of reclamation rights in this proposed bathing pool area will not suffice, from the council's point of view, as compensation for the taking of the once popular Thorndon Esplanade, an additional area of land still to be reclaimed will be asked for as an addition to the recreation ground, perhaps ten acres all told. IF THERE WERE NO ACT. There is no doubt that if the city were free to act—and if the city had the money—a wonderful job could be made of Evans Bay as the city's finest bay, not even excepting Oriental Bay, with bathing facilities on a very big scale for the very big prospective population of the eastern' suburbs, a long crescent promenade, with trees, beds of shrubs, and flowers, seats and lights; But the city is not free. The Harbour Board has full reclamation rights, and has already spent big sums of money in land purchases and other preliminaries to the work. It may yet be solidly argued that a reclamation at the head of the bay is not at all in the interests of the locality, now almost solely a residential areaj but that argument is not likely to carry sufficient weight to end the scheme. Curiously enough it was the city and not the Harbour Board which first pushed the Evans Bay reclamation scheme, and pushed it hard, with the idea that to maintain its pride of place Wellington must have more industrial land. The Harbour Board, seemingly, took a lot of pushing before it would fall in with the idea, but when it did move in the preliminaries a proper job was made of it in the special empowering legislation. At that time the locality was not yet a residential area, and a factory area was not out of accord with the general plans for the locality. To-day, now that every section at the head of the bay is built up with not more than half a dozen factories or mills among the lot, the industrial area plans, it has been promised, can only be modified to provide that no industry likely to cause annoyance to residents will be permitted, noisy, smoky, or otherwise noisome industries having an opportunity to establish themselves on the larger Hutt and Petone industrial areas: That, however, is beside the question of the squaring up of accounts in regard to the Thorndon Esplanade, though, indirectly, it is closely bound up with it.