FUTURE OF EVANS BAY

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 70, 20 September 1933, Page 11

FUTURE OF EVANS BAY

RECLAMATION PLANS

TIME FOR AGREEMENT

AMENDMENT NECESSARY

In the opinion of Councillor R. Semple, M.P., the present is a particularly opportune time, for several reasons, for the reaching of an agreement between the Wellington Harbour Board and the City Council in regard to the future of Evans Bay.

"I have taken an interest in this question for a good time now," he said to a "Post" reporter today, "and I think that I can say that as a member of the City Council, the Harbour Board, and the Foreshore- Protection League, and also as member for Wellington East, I have been able to hear most sides of the question. Everything I have heard satisfies me that this business has dragged- on far too long already. "Unless a sensible agreement is reached Wellington City is going to lose ono of its best and most appreciated recreational assets."

The City Council, said Mr. _ Semple, was unanimously of the opinion that an effort should be made to reach a settlement and he hoped —and also felt that there was'good reason for'hope— that the Harbour Board would feel tho same way. The fact that a serious blunder had been ' made over twenty years ago when the City Council in an excess of enthusiasm had given away the rights of the citizens was no reason why the position should not be remedied now, when conditions had so much altered. IDEA OF RECLAMATION. The idea put forward in favour of the reclamation in 1907 and 1908 was that Wellington was short of level ground suitable for the . establishment of industries of light and mixed types, said Mr. Semple, arid as conditions were then the- argument was sound, though the powers proposed and later given ? to the Harbour Board wore very wide. Since 1907, however, conditions had altogether changed, and in the Eastern Hutt area, apparently not thought of at the time the ■ reclamation scheme was put forward, there ■were possibilities of industrial development far beyond anything that could be done in Evans Bay. An industrial area in the bay could never be served by rail, whereas the Eastern Hutt area was already served by rail, road, and sea. That was not to say that the Evans Bay reclamation w,ould not be of future great value, but the advisability of so engulfing a scheme as. was authorised by the 1908 Act was now very much tempered by tho development of the industrial area in the Hutt Valley. • A WIDE APPEAL MADE. In addition to the move made by the City Council in setting up a committee to meet tho Harbour Board in an endeavour to reach agreement, continued Mr. Semple, the Foreshore League was embarking upon a further active programme and circulars were being sent to vaious sports organisations, school committees, and others asking for their co-operation. ' That reclamation work would be carried out at Evans Bay there was little doubt, if for no other reason than that tho Harbour Board had already sunk so much money in the scheme that it could, not afford to throw that money away, but rights which would mean that the wholo length of foresiiore from the Miramar Wharf to well beyond the Patent Slip would be closed to the public were too far reaching. The exercise of those rights would mean the disappearance of the safest bathing spot about Wellington—a place whero there had never been a drowning fatality—the chasing, out ■of the yachtsmen in the bay, with, as far as Jie could see, nowhere else for the boats to go, and the closing in of the seafront of the Kilbirnie Beserve in such a way as to detract very greatly from its . attractiveness and usefulness. The lease of the Patent Slip was expiring very shortly, said Mr. Semple, and this was an additional reason .why the reclamation scheme .should be finalised without delay, for the two matters were connected. ■ -.. ■ ■ Another substantial reason- was that reclamation work would provide employment at a time when employment was never moro urgently needed. The Harbour Board was a wealthy body, but had so far declined to accept any responsibility, as regarded, the provision of additional work, preferring to look on while the City Council did_ a great deal more than its' -fair share. It was common knowledge that the council had just k/bout reached the limit, for what works of .any;size Temained to be undertaken about the city. The one that would come first to the minds of most people,would be the Evans Bay reclamation, but on an amended plan which would safeguard the city's rights to the little scrap of foreshore left it while still building up a valuable asset for the benefit of both Harbour Board and city. Mr. Semple mentioned, with emphasis, the untidy condition of the shore line from the Kilbirnie Post Office to the recreation ground. "The City Council itself is the chief offender," he said. "Various departments have made this bit of ground a dump for clay, road sweepings, broken, concrete and rock, tipped anyhow, and householders, following such a splendid lead, have dumped tins, refuse of all sorts, now and then a dead cat, and altogether the place is an absolute picture. There is no reason why a start should no.t bo made here right away, by using the rocks' to build a low seawall and cutting down and spreading the dump to road level. The council in the past has had a good deal to answer for over Evans Bay plans, and the present council has nothing to feel proud about in the dirty dump it has made right on a main road."