ST. CLAIR SANDHILLS

Evening Star, Issue 17603, 7 March 1921, Page 2

ST. CLAIR SANDHILLS

ALL THAT IS LEFT OF THEM. CITIZENS’ MEETING ASKS FOR PROMPT PROTECTION. A meeting of citizens and members of tho St. Clair and St. Kikla Citizens’ League, convened for Saturday evening in the Presbyterian Hall at St. Clair, was attended by about twenty-five persons. Mr A. D. Edgar,, Mayor of St. Kilda, took the chair. Ho said' that the groynes erected under the direction of the Public Works Department and to its plans nad not been a. success, and if was for the meeting. to decide what steps should bo taken tp bring tho urgency of tho position to tho notice of the responsible authorities. Tho Domain Board, was trying to do 1 its best; but the Public Works Department said that groynes were the tiling, and they had failed, and the only course now was to ask the St. Kilda Council to join in approaching the City ■ Council. The Hon. J. O. Coates, Minister of Public Works, said when in Dunedin that he had not the time to go out and personally inspect, but ho had given the Public Works Engineer instructions to keep an eye on the locality, and Mr Coates also said that he considered that the Marino Department as associated with tho Public Works Department was not contributing a fair share of the cost. Ho would not commit himself to say how much the department should pay, but he did say he thought a third was not enough. His (Mr Edgar’s) opinion was that it would do no good to tinker with this matter. A big protective, scheme was wanted, such as a mole run out from the second beach, and Dunedin as a whole must wake up and do something effective with the help of the Government., Mr John M’Donald said he was dissatisfied with the coldness of the people living nigh. The smallness of that meeting was disappointing. It was not a. fair thing to leave this important question to a fpw. Tho league had done good work—it had got seals put on the sea front, and obtained special cars, and done various other things, and as a return their secretary, Mr Trolman, who was a busy man, was being badgered about tho rent of the hall they were meeting in. He saw at tho meeting only two or three persons who lived near the face of the sandhills, though, if the sea came over the Flat, as it might do in any spell of bad weather, about 6,000 would be vitally interested. Unless the citizens put-their shoulders to the wheel the league could not cany on. Tlie object of the meeting was not to find fault with the Government or the Domain Board, or any other body, but to authorise a deputation to go to the St. Kilda Council on Monday night and ask that body to join with them in requesting the Mayor of Dunedin to call a special meeting of tlie City Council in order to provide money wherewith to take immediate steps for the protection of what was left of the sandhills. The protection of the sandhills was tho one thing he had all along urged. In his opinion the only efficient temporary protection would he to continue laying down stones, ns was done at the time of the winter storm. The two councils had authority to spend money for such a purpose, and any money so spent would not ho lost, since it would bo, kept in circulation locally. The Public Works Department and the engineers could meanwhile go on merrily with their groynes, and, if they served any purpose, good lock to them. No doubt a mole from the second beach would be an ideal scheme, but the people might find their places on the Flat 2ft or 3ft in water before such a work could bo effective. If be went back to the City Council he would ask for an allocation of £2,000 a year for opening up a quarry and naming out a mole from the second beach, with aid from the Government, thus making a fishing boat harbor. Bui that would be for the future. What was wanted now was to save the sandhills. He would move—•“ That a deputation wait on the St. Kilda Council on Monday night and request that body to join in asking the Mayor of Dunedin to call a special meeting of the City Council to provide money, under the Domain Board Bill, for the protection of the Sandhills,” The Chairman suggested that the Domain Board he asked to accompany the deputation to the Dunedin Mayor.

Mr M ’Donald agreed. Mr P. S. Dill suggested that the esplanade should be extended right along. The Chairman replied that it would have to go all the way to Lawyer Dead, otherwise (here would be an erosion wherever ii stopped. Mr Hill seconded the motion.

Mr H. W. Trotman expressed the opinion that the groynes would not do any good till they were, boarded up. He also said that some day we would have to come to the idea of finding out whether there was a reef miming out from the shore, and, if there was, to set about building on it. Meanwhile, in his opinion, the best thing to do would be to drive- a pile wall alongthe sandhills and back it with stones. Mr M. H. Seddon said that Mr Fnrkert’s recommendation to skirt groynebuilding from the eastern end bad been departed from. Mr Fnrkert said that groynes might bring hack the sand to the beach, ‘but, fidling that, a wall should be built. But he did not mean a wall with a vertical face, like the esplanade. His (Mr Seddon’s) view was that the stones should be continued as a protection just now.

Mr Hall supported the motion. Mr W. Brown gave reasons for supposing that there was deep water between the 'shore- and White Island.

Mr John Wilson, being invited to speak, said that he went to the meeting to listen, and had nothing ranch to say. He might remark, however, that he had no faith in groynes, though the groynes now being put in were bettor than the first ones. The reason they were not planked was that the timber was wanted for decking. The work was difficult to finance. Ho combated the idea that the esplanade had caused the erosion. He believed that there was a change in the bed of the ocean, and that a mole from the second beach would bo the ultimate remedy; but the engineers did not favor that scheme. Mr M. H. Seddon asked who would have to pay if the sea encroached and did damage. Mr M'Donald answered that ho was advised” the local authorities would bo responsible, and ho thought that would mean the City Council The motion was carried, and the persons appointed as the deputation were Dr Dickie. Messrs H. W. Trotraan, I*. K. Hill. F. C. Triggs; T. Fleming, D. Marshall, W. Brown, Wells, Corson, Bezar, and Hinton.

The Hon. M. Cohen, in moving a vote of thanks to the chairman, said that when in Sydney he was told that an engineer of standing had said that a boat harbor could bo made at the second beach if material was available and labor was not too dear. The groynes, in his (Mr Cohen’s) opinion, were a waste of money. All they had done was to create a sandbank, inside of which was a deep channel into which bathers might slip.