THE OKAKEI BASIN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19508, 11 December 1926, Page 10

THE OKAKEI BASIN.

The attractive scheme for the formation of a permanent - lake of salt water in the Orakei Basin has now been advanced to the final point in the negotiations between the Harbour Board and the City Council for the vesting of its control in the municipal authority under a renewable lease. These technical formalities alone have been prominent in official discussions, almost to the exclusion of the larger aspects. The underlying purpose is that the basin shall be used as a public boating and bathing area. So far no clear explanation has been given of the steps proposed to secure public access to and enjoyment of the lake. There are suggestions that the owners of the adjacent properties should construct a road around the basin, that their riparian rights should be extinguished and that an education reserve should be transferred to the city. The benefits of the whole proiect will obviously depend upon the situation of the proposed road and the extent of land between the road and the water line reserved to the public. The steep green slopes surrounding the basin form a natural amphitheatre. Are they to be secured for the free use of the picnicking parties envisaged by the scheme, or are they to be cut off from the lake by the new road and cut up into building sections? If the latter alternative were adopted, the' property-owners would no doubt cheerfully surrender their riparian rights, but the general public would not so willingly endorse the council's participation in a scheme chiefly designed to enhance the value of private property. Apprehensions on this point are, indeed, aroused by the suggestion from the Harbour Board that if the council cannot come to an agreement with the property-owners regarding the provision of access, the board would consider the existing road sufficient If the formation of the lake is seri ously intended to be for fche benefit of the general public, the City Council certainly cannot be content with merely a road as the only access. Its first responsibility must be to obtain an adequate belt of land along the lake shore as a public reserve. If this cannot be done public interest in the scheme will be sadly disappointed.