SHELTER FOR YACHTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20827, 20 March 1931, Page 12

SHELTER FOR YACHTS.

ST. MARY'S BAY SCHEMIE.

WORK ON BOAT HARBOUR.

EORMING ROAD ON BREAKWATER Another step toward the completion of the fine harbour for pleasure boats at St. Mary's Bay, Ponsonby, will shortly bo taken when the breakwater wall will be connected at its Point Erin end by a roadway joining it with Curran Street. An endeavour is now being made to get authority from the Government to utilise the funds of~the Unemployment Board under the No. 5 scheme for the carrying out of the work. The original plans for the boat harbour provided for a roadway forty feet in width along the top of the new breakwater wall to give access from Curran Street to the boatsheds which will eventually bo built on the section of the wall protecting the western portion of the boat harbour. The original plans also provided for a batter on the inside of the curved section of the breakwater opposite the Shelly Beach Baths to serve as a hauling-up site for the winter storage of yachts and launches. So far the work of constructing the boat harbour has consisted in building the breakwater which encloses the bay from Point Erin to within approximately 900 feet of the south-western corner of the Western tide deflector and the dredging of a strip inside the eastern end of the breakwater.

The provision of road access to the wall is the nest step and negotiations have been proceeding between the Auckland Harbour Board and the Auckland City Council with a view to carrying out this part of the plan. It has now been agreed that the City Council will form a roadway 400 feet in length frora the present end of Curran Street, skirtirg the cliff frontage to the park to join up with the breakwater. An additional path will be built from this new access road down to the baths. It will be necessary for the Harbour Board to build a viaduct across the reef west of the baths, where the tide waters flow into the boat harbour, to connect the City Council's portion of the new road to the breakwater and the board will form the road for 660 feet along the top of the wall. It is hoped that, with the sanction of the Government to use the unemployment funds, it will be possible to start tho work within the next week or two. Employment should bo provided for from 100 to 120 men for about two months. This part of the scheme is estimated to cost £!.0,000.