HOBSON BAY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19809, 2 December 1927, Page 10

HOBSON BAY.

A deputation waiting on the Mayor to expound proposals for the city's enjoyment of the area to be reclaimed at Hobson Bay performed a public service. On the details of the proposals themselves there may be a difference of opinion. Mr. Baildon's preference for a longer tenure than the forty years suggested by the deputation is sound. Security of tenure is an essential element in any elaborate plans for the treatment of the area. Very considerable expenditure will be involved in any adequate scheme, and the city's profit from this ought to be well assured before anything practical is done. A complete plan of development is therefore desirable, and its details ought to be decided as soon as possible. What is of even more vital importance, however, is the immediate securing of the available area by the city, and the deputation's urging of this expresses the consensus of public opinion. Questions of this sort are apt to be left to the authorities when once they are raised, and these authorities, unless public pressure be brought continually to bear, may fail to take steps in accordance with the desire of citizens. Behind the deputation is a very strong wish that this area shall be preserved for all time as a heritage of the city for recreative and scenic purposes. This wish has had emphatic expression, and any attempt to deal otherwise with this part of the city's foreshore will be strongly resented. The City Council should lose no time in giving effect to the wish. It need not wait for any scheme's final form before pressing the indubitable claims of the city