A PLEA FOR BREAKER BAY

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 113, 9 November 1933, Page 10

A PLEA FOR BREAKER BAY

(To the Editor.)

Sir,—Regular travelers' in and out of Wellington Heads can scarcely have failed to notice the rapid development of the little residential quarter known as Breaker Bay, which, from one or two cottages, has now attained the status of a fullblown marine suburb. (If anyone doubt this description* I invite,him, or her, to walk through the "cutting"-when a stiff southerly is performing.) It is an isolated community, linked only by telephone, and a corrugated thoroughfare masquerading as a track, with the life and bustle of its nearest neighbour, Seatoun. Though in this comparative remoteness lies, perhaps, its principal charm. But the' outward peaceful and contented air of the little .settlement is a delusion. Carking care lurks beneath its seemingly happy exterior, for a canker gnaws at its vitals; and we, the inhabitants of this apparently carefree area, nourish a viper in our bosoms. Briefly, our grievance is that our city fathers—torn, perhaps, by conflicting municipal and political passions, or onerously pre-occupied with confidence carnival preparations—seem to have forgotten us; they have overlooked the fact that Breaker Bay has grown up, and is surely entitled to the basic amenity of modern civilisation —viz., subterranean sanitation. True, we enjoy privileges unknown to our pioneer predecessors—such as gas and electricity; but this provision seems rather' like an inversion of'normal progress: for no one can deny that if' the primary communal needs are gas, electric light, and drainage, the greatest of these is drainage. Now, Sir, we^— the residents of Breaker "Bay—are a quiet, unobtrusive people, and' a long-suffering. In resentful silence, and consumed by the viper of jealousy, v/e have watched the other bays ; obtain from the City Council concession after concession, until now they are practically all fully equipped with up-to-date residential trappings. Our patience is now exhausted, and we" feel the time has arrived for us to catch the eye, the ear, and —not to put too fine a point upon it—the nose, of the municipal body. Our demands are very modest. We do not cry for the moon— nor do we request that the hills behind us be set further back to give us more sun. This may be granted xis automatically later, inasmuch as wo still have faith in the City Council, and faith, 'tis said, will move.mountains. We do not ask for beach patrols, because we have no beach; nor, by that same, token, do we demand that our rocky foreshore be foreshortened, smoothed out, and made amenable to the frolicsome juvenility of spade-and-bucket-hood. We do not suggest the raising of a loan for the construction of a marine promenade, a band rotunda, and an outjutting pier. We "neither ask, nor expect, that in the immediate future Breaker Bay be made a port of call for. the Lyttelton luxury liners, and other lesser shipping. We positively decline, at the moment, to press our unquestioned claims to a local Town Hall, public library, Turkish baths, telephone exchange, a tunnel through the hills, tramway extension, and a Reserve Bank at Branda Pass.

No, Sir, we want but little, here below, ami we have wanted that little long. We asked for bread, and were given a telephone; we requested drainage, and were pacified with electricity; we sought the

betterment of our one and only track—miscalled a road—and were quietened with gas. We keep on getting gassed, in reply to all our pleadings—courteous promises of consideration in the vague future— words, idle words. Breaker Bay is thus forced into regarding itself as the Cinderella among its more fortunate sister bays. Therefore, Sir, through your powerful columns we appeal to the City Council to enact the role of fairy godmother, or father—to wave the magic municipal wand that shall cause our present furrowed highway to shed its sheath of soul-destroying metal, and become a resilient ribbon of grateful and comforting bitumen: 'ueath which the unseen pipes of pan may fulfil their hidden and merciful mission. Then will the tleniiiens of this far-flung and neglected region rise up and call their City Fathers blessed.—l am, etc., \ , .■'.'■', '.L.D.A.;