AUCKLAND HILLS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 156, 30 June 1914, Page 6

AUCKLAND HILLS.

The grass-covered cones which lend character and distinction to the isthmus between the Waitemata and the Manukau are threatened with an insidious process of destruction. It is not long since the Mayor of Auckland called attention to the excavations being made for road metal, and now the One-tree Hill Road Board is concerned for the preservation of the contour of Mount St. John. This clearly ap- ( pears to be a case in which the exercise of perfectly legitimate private rights is in conflict with public policy, and the chairman of the Road Board is on sound ground in suggesting that the private rights should be extinguished out of the public purse. If our volcanic cones arc not to remain unaltered the Auckland landscape will be Badl}' marred. Already ugly holes have been made in several beautiful summits. If it were a choice of roads or hills there niigh; be some excuse for such desecration, but abundance of metal can be obtained elsewhere, and thero is not the slightest reason for sacrificing the hills to the roads. Tho hills of Auckland have touched the imagination of almost all visitors to the city, and New Zealand literature from the earliest days of colonisation has made constant reference to them, Not only do'their sweeping curves delight the eye from every aspect, but the hills arc of groat value as breathing spaces, and as commanding points from which to view ono of the finest panoramas in the world. It is unthinkable that they should be razed for the scoria they contain or injured to provide building sites, and steps should immediately be taken to preserve them for all time. If it is found that this can only be dono by extinguishing private •rights at the public cost there should be no hesitation in following that course.