ST. CLAIR BEACH.

Evening Star, Issue 17325, 13 April 1920, Page 6

ST. CLAIR BEACH.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—“ Fresh brains and fresh methods are wanted.” May I congratulate you upon the article the full purport of which is aptly summed up by you in those words, and in which you again bring before the public the dilly-dallying of the council on the important question of the St. Clair Beach? Groynes, sir, as you have pointed out, will not effect a remedy, and probably no one knows that better than our city engineer and possibly Mr Hancock. I make bold to say, sir, that if the construction v.'oik in connection with the roadway or Ocean Drive built some four or five years ago had been carried out according to plan, and had not been deviated at a very dangerous paint, we would have had none of the serious washing away of sandhills at present experienced. 1 would suggest to the city engineer, and incidentally to the chairman of the Ocean Beach Domain Board, that a more efficient method than the groynes would be to build- again that Ocean Drive, and on this occasion there would be no reason to depart from the original plan, as the latters beautiful sandhill (which he did not want to disfigure) has already gone. For £2,000 a very great quantity of rock could be trucked from the Second Beach and tipped where the old rubble wall was built in 1916. This could thus be made a solid rock wall, which would affgrd ample protection to the Sandhills, and give us again the beginning of that Ocean Drive for ths completion of which to as far as Lawyer head hopes were once entertained.

It seems to mo. sir, that fresh brains are most sadly wanted in this municipal undertaking. Surely our councillors can interpret the manner in which the recent Lee Stream proposal was vetoed as a “ want of confidence” vote in our present civic administration. I think the time has arrived when a halt should be called to the way in which one of our greatest assets lias been played with. The sands are very nice for our children to play with, with spade and bucket, and sticks, but something of a more serious p.nd lasting nature is surely required at the hands of a Domain Board or City Council. When I think of what has been accomplished in other parts of the world with beaches which in their original state were not much better than our Anderson Bay inlet, my blood boils when I see how our splendid beach is to be toyed with and disfigured; and, for no purpose save the waste of public money. Surely, sir Dunedin has been trifled with long enough by inefficiency in municipal undertakings, and is it not time that the worm should at last turn? May I suggest that you commence a campaign for a supply of “ Fresh Brains ” in our municipal undertakings ?—I am, etc., Digger. April 13.