THE GALE AT ST. CLAIR

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16782, 25 August 1916, Page 3

THE GALE AT ST. CLAIR

CONSIDERABLE DAMAGE,

NEW SEA WALL I IsPLIuMIN 1)1),

Under stress of tho south gait, the sort .a Uie Oc-ean Le.ieU has ulloukd diumg tho past <|aj tu two an liu-pumg spectacle. LiituituuatiJ\, its subiiniitv lui.Ijoch limited to its appeal .nice, its tiKti--luivo been lather il.mm mils. Within 4o liouis .ilUr tiie iisiii.; ot Uie l; 110 it be uuiio apparent an\ oboeivn that tho stabititj ot tlie in w t-e i wall .jiippoit'ii l ; tho Uiwu duvo on tlio uwuu aide ol ht. Clair was going to I*> tested, tor the gieal accuuiLil.iUou ox "-and he-apcn up at its> b.ust' duimg long sptlK of pievailmg and iiortheiK vvt.tlher wa o .swipt away at an auia/mg late. At hign watei on, WediHMliv iiß'imiig the base ot the new sea w.dl w.ic laid ixue for its gieater length, and looks were being dislocated and earl it d seaward. 'Ihe signs boehd ill for tlie Uleits ot succeeding titles, and ap pieheiibions v.ere lullv jublineel. Ye"-terda.\ at was high v\ater about, noon, and the was making upon tlie wall tlie grand assault lor which lU previous work had btcn a pieparatioti. lietiue lU onslaught, ioi tluee paits ot lentil, tho wall, winch is —or was—ol loose ioik, visiblj crumbled awav beneath tlio eje of the spectator. The stones now lie heajjed or mattered on the sand—though much matenal had been earned bodily awav, —anil the sand and clay bank of which tliev coristiiutid the face his exposed to the wash ot the breaker, which it is, of course, quite tuiablo to resist. The visible damago to tlio wall jesterday was v cry extensive. 'Ihe drove against i|j with much Molenee,every now and ag.im, the °pi.ij daslnm; over tho footpath, many feet .lb it is above tho sand Lnel, and in their huivj recoil they carried considerable sjioil with them. The taco of the embankment i a now m a cleplorablo state —great cavities have been eaten out of it, and shelves of material, including tho edges of the seaward footpath have slid down, to be dissipated bj the surf, whilo numerous cracks show tli.it more of tho upper face is now ready to follow. Tho doubts oiiteri .Lined v.hen tlio wall v as being built by thc-o who considered it folly to think a protective face constructed in this loose fashion would stand mlush of a heavy sea and high tide combined liaio been fully justified. Shortly after the construction of tho wall, was completed it was to a small extent -undermined by a southerly gale, and men had to be employed restoring tho rocks at its ba c e. For a long period after that tho conditions wero such that tho wall was strengthened and covered by nearly half its height by tho heavy deposit of sand, which noticeably laised tho level of all our sea beaches. At St. Clair a tew hours ha\c sufficed, however, to undo tho process of many months. An old tinio sou'-w e=tcr, the tir'st lor a long period, lias found the wall of tho new paiado an easy prey. The resistance offered by tho wall to tho surf has been fatal to itself. Loosened and demoralised by tho sea, it has lor thiee paits of its length simply collapsed, and now lies—what is left ot it prostrate and ignoble. Already tho damago appears to bo well nigh jireparable, aoid, if tlio gale and high sea continue, every tide must add _to it, so that thero is a prospect of the ruination becoming much moiu aooentuotcd. If ono thing is demonstrated more cleaily than another, it would seem to be the usclessnees of an attempt to rebuild this wall upon a method the insecurity of which stands revealed for all to see. Yet, any other plan of construction must bo very costly. Thero is a. littlo problem at St. Clair—a littlo illustration of money sunk to no purpose —which may -well gno tho local authorities concerned food for reflection. Tho damage done by tho gale is not, however, confined to the (St. Clair walk At high' water yesterday thero was hardly a squaro yard of the beach proper from St. Clair to Lawyer's Head upon whicjj ono could havo walked diry-shod. All was flooded. Even at tho central gateway to tho beach—the entrance at St. Kilda—tho waves were knocking, but here their spent force was doing little harm, though great masses of white and yellow spume, covering acres of foreshore with yeasty froth, pio•vided here, and elsewhere, a novel spectacle. On the St. Clair sido of St. Kilda the waves had mads a wido -breach in tho brushwood fencing laid down by tho Domain Board, and had washed out a considerable area that had been carefully planted with reeds and rushes. The wisdom of the responsible authority in levelling flat, clearing, and joplanting another area, now very lowIjing, which is adjacent to tho iSt Kilda Entrance to the beach, is not testified to by tho fact that but a very narrow sand ridgo ■was yesterday preventing the last swirl of tho breakers from inundating this part. From St. Kilda to Lawyer's Head, where the breach has its greatest breadth,' no damago appears to have been done, though the outposts of tho recently-planted areas have been touched by the sea.