AN OFF-DAY ON THE OCEAN BEACH, ST. KILDA.

Otago Witness, Issue 2850, 28 October 1908, Page 77

AN OFF-DAY ON THE OCEAN BEACH, ST. KILDA.

The year's at the spring, " And day's at the morn; Morning's at seven, The hillside's dew-pearled; The lark' 6 on the wing, •» The snail's on the thorn:" God's in His heaven — All's right with the worlth Had Browning been -describing St. Kilda on this off-morning his picture would still have been true to Nature. He might, in place of the worm and the thorn, have noticed the waves and the iguD£— that would have been all. Tttie lark is singing in the hazy blue above the lupin, and the isjrey light, endeavouring as it were to join th© dear azure 'beyond mist, is proof that the Creator of all things ie looking benignly down upon His creation. Here and there a mother is sitting with her babes among the dunes, enjoying the soft, warm, .grey liight. Closer to the waves invalids are taking the morning a.ir, y accompanied by ocean music. In the difi- | tance, towards Tomahawk, an enthusiastic I golfer may be seen testing the metal of a new club or seeking energy and litheness } in exercise. For the rest the picture is of dun hills and a nidsty sky. Isot long ago 1 this 'beautiful beach was anything but the popular resort it is "to-day. St. Clair, with cliffs and wave-washed rocks, was 1 looked upon as th© most preferable, if ; not the onh- seaside resort for tired j Dunedin folk". The electrification of the trams and other-jnfluences changed the state of affairs, un now, on holidays and 1 fine Sunday afternoons, it is hard to say 1 which draws the bigger crowds. Dunedin foITT have much to be thankful for and ' not the. least is the possession and choice ;of seaekJe resorts. St. CLair, Ht. Kilda, • Lawyer's Head — three positive pleasures, I and in between them the soft, tempting sand banks itself up in secluded nooks for 1 those who care to get away from the '■ ma<idmg crowd." One thing people should be warned against, tbe criminal habit of leaving broken glassware on the beach. Children simply love to romp in [ freedom, barefooted, amen'g the sards, and instances are not -wanting where * there abandon has ended in bad wounds, j It is a simple maitteT for individuals to I carry their gear away with them : and if i they do so the menace at present exis+- ! inig w<ill 4J*app* aa *- Had it not been that t Byron, and. Ruskin so aptly described- the' ocean the one its ' moods the otheT its i ways, there might be call for a few words I here under those heads. As it is the ( ocean is th© ocean, let it 6pend its ! strength on English cliffs or 6end its waves lapping on Grecian sands. Here we have it creeping and crooning on familiar , sands, yet not familiar. Every time you [ look upon the waves they have something new to show ; every time you listen they have something new to tell — glimpses and whispers of Infinity. Leaving the waves, the beach confronts you. : Sandhills I covered with lupin just breaking into . bud ; marram, grass that tenacious sand- . grabber, bending and bowing before the j wind in brown grandeur. Below these ' Nature makes way for artifice in the form | of a stoutly-built seven-strand, barbed- | wire fence. This fence stretches from below St. Clair to the back of Tahuna Park, and it is part of a scheme of which j more hereafter. The intervening flats are checkered with long lines of groins, ov sandtraps. They consist of low manuka- , twined fences, round which the sand, by some inexplicable law of Nature, banks up. When these are covered, others are erected, and so the work of hill-budldin^ goes on. The institution of these sandtraps spelt salvation to many beautiful I and comfortable homes in. the district. It j is said that flat country produces flat people. The point is decidedly debat- ■ able, and if what Carlisle said about genius being the art of taking pains is true, then Dunedin South can boast of fostering at , least one genius. His name — why not! — is Mr Hancock, whose connection with southern .municipal affairs dates back into the sixties. Some years ago the sea broke in on the flat. There was a great cry . I raised. The flat was finking (Some went so far as to proclaim that the whole of I the West Coast of New Zealand was doina; ths same thing) ; the sea. was going to I 1 break in amain and claim its old own. \ Tlie residents wort in consternation — and i little wonder. Besides millions of money, , 1 there was the^tail and ambitions of years at stake. Parliament was petitioned for aid, but what could a slow-moving Parlia- j ment do? Then .South Dunedin produced it. « genius. Mr Hancock was one of the i Ocean Beach Board, ele'-ted to devi«-p nieaiih of Maying the devastation. And j v-e'-y coon it became evident that the ncfiit man had be?n chosen. He spared n-'ither pains nor time on Irs task. All j <l.v> hf uas directing operations on the b'-;u h ard there are tho.^e who have met [ linn on th.-- foSoaliore well into the night, [ f-tudvPij tly action of the *vaves. He • litci iMv m^t the ocoan on its own grounds ; .ii"J fought it with its own weapons. The ■ O(<\ui i i.id ths itdvasiia^e of irettini^ its | l>!o« in fiifrt — ilreudv St. C'air w«t^ ' tlnoqtentd; th* tide wa> seeking; aii'l , h'n,lir. r r. its old-time inlet*-. The j of the situation pea-ed th" ireniu 1 .. Thoie wo-> no mi'-tikinir t ll^ prow -ss of In.s for>. His weapon 1 ? were .<-impl<- — lupin, marram i iii'H-5. and t"he '.roin. A'l this happened so-)]'- fro \e:ir-- a;o Since when, the two j — th- 1 ocean and the man — have been battling aw ay ; t!e .sea in it<- sullen m M ,'lit. the genius, in quiet p»r&<?veranoe of the l«iw.<« of Nature. And the wonder of tho situation ; <= that the TP'lvrhtier th" s~a tlw steadier the york of reclama- j tion j)ix>cp>p' I s. To-day thero is a ee-'iii-natural wall !-etveen St Clair and Law- ! yer's Tic.d that guarantees, focurity to • thi> most nervous : esident. What more? Tho .'oa. as .Millt-n as ever, as anxious to hecnr« our ma-rtt-r. muto ;md terrible as it is. it p>J!l claims our love-. We go to it for comfort, tie po to it for i and tc-diu Bu' the Sim lias leached its zenith, prodaimiln^ ths flight of time;

the golfler has disappeared ; the mothers are preparing to leave the dunes ; there is no life dn ihe seene — voiceless waves, dreamy •waves, dun bilk. It is a picture still. John MacLennan.