THE OCEAN BEACH AND ST. CLAIR.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11188, 10 August 1898, Page 7

THE OCEAN BEACH AND ST. CLAIR.

TO THE EDITOR. SlB Your ' leading article nf Saturday, advocates a scheme suggested by Colonel Morris ' for conserving the Ocean -Beach .>•■;; 'As author 'Of a Bcheme-prßsentlv; before, the Domain Board, it. would be bad taste-in the highest'degree for me to oritic.se the work of a competitor; but Colouel-.Momsis iiot a competitor-he merely threw out a suggestion, and as you have taken up this suggestion. -in, your. leading column I conceive I have, therefore, the privilege, of comparing it with my own plan, '■ . ' ' , Colonel Morris did nothing more than throw out a suggestion that as at ■Madras, where a beach was being 'eaten away-by the,sea,: n system of groynes had been .found to"be. an effectual remedy, if the conditions -vat, the-. Oceftn'Bfeach'-were simildr, the..same.<.remedy. miaht apply.■;•■•'•■■ '■' ' '■' '■'■ •"■■■ '-■'■ •■'* '•"■' '"■mi" •.-Thisvis'the-.arux. of the-whole matter: j me conditions are not -similari and.'. the remedies; must-therefore^ be' different.. -At Madras th£ beach Jwas'baingrieaten away and .the,sea ad-, vancing inland at the rate of a: mile.in 2Qyears —an average of 88 yardsia year,. Ouribeach is not being wasted similarly .at, a3l; its. .•lowwater mark is practically ;now. where it was 30 years ago. For , all praqtical / purposes, what maybe called'the beach (proper, as-dis-, tinguished from the Sandhills, for weather disturbances, what it has ever.been. The; source'of trouble is entirely the removal of the Sandhills.'-•:• ' ■■■ .■ ■ '■■• -■ ■ There-is at present a large lagoon opposite the St. Kilda tram line. This is no new thing; I can remember -it .years ago, as large, v or even larger, than it is now,—but, then there was.a range..of sandhills, narrow, indeed, but intact, between.it and the Flat, and there was never a thought of irruption. ■ These hills have been carted away, and there-is nothing now,to prevent the high seas or-a high tide., overflowing on the Flat. . , ..,,•: .. The trouble at St. Clair is that sandhills which should have been left ..untouched, as a barrier against the ocean, halve been sold, as building allotments—more, ..the Esplanade cribbed. some half a chain yfrom the beach, The sea has now only resumed its own. JTho freehold property east of the dietricfi rbaid , should, itiso have been retained as part.of the, defences against the.ocean,- which bad weather would attack and fine build up. Assuming these remarks to be-true, and; I am at a loss to see how they can be denied, it will be seen the problem is totally different from that at Madras. ' What is wanted is not : to.prevent a beach^being;eaten,away:;,,,but < -to raise sandhills. .The beach, as d.jst^iag^J^|e3. from tbW Sandhills is already there to. receive the'shbclr'cif the surf.: 'It.-will fJattWn r;or';bej- M come steeper j1 acdordihg' tb'-the: Wekther y tiu't ■ the background protection of skndhills 'must' be raised again. Ip np simpler or' cheaper manner can .'this'be dope than, by the means I propose of parallel fences, some 30ft apart, interlaced • with scrub. The.iences must'noti be top high,bu.t the sand raised.gradually^ and the operation well supervised. . . V '■ > . When the ■ sandhills are- raised^'.'vand thfl\ whole domain planted with trees as proposed, the city would gain an ornament, and • the , citizens a beautiful recreation ground. It'has been said that the supply of sand haß ceased— the rivers- being full o." gold-mining1 'silt. From Tewaewae Bay to the Ocean -Beach every beach is sand, and none are growing smaller; ' .'" ' ' '"■','•' :. '. It iB also asserted that a. solid wall will .never stand at St. Clair. I think experience I proves, the- contrary. The first wall, badly ; buiit',' and with ' a very' slight foundation, | stood for matty years.. .It is a fair assump'-'' tion that a solid waJl. with.a toe.founded well down and a good way back from the original wall, wij]. stand easily enough. . The beacK is,, I the great attraction of St. .Glair,, and.'some,; | attention to. appearances shouja be considered jin .the design of the wall; further it *vould,be , |. a pity 'to ruin '^he sandy beachf by a. rubfele, apron or toe. ' , ■ .; . ■; As | summary f would'say where: sandhills now exist there is no danger to the Flat from the ocean. What they Jose in a .bad; season they will gain in a fine one, but protect them , by planting. ; Where sandhills,have, disappeared raise them by fences arid scrub.. Pro- ' tect Sfc Clajrby a solid 'wall.^l>am, sic,,-., i •" ',-■:■ •'.■■' •v- ,-., - , .-.- ' ■•. ''W ; -Hi-HtITCBEBO!i» >■■ ~ ■