SEA WALL PROPOSED

Taranaki Daily News, 6 September 1935, Page 7

SEA WALL PROPOSED

RECLAMATION OF THE BAY SUGGESTION AT NEW PLYMOUTH. t BATHS TO WOOLCOMBE TERRACE. PROVISION FOR MARINE PARADE. The reclamation of Railway Bay at New Plymouth behind a seawall from the end of Weymouth Street at Kawaroa Park to the western end of Woolcombe Terrace to provide for a marine parade and extended railway facilities was a suggestion placed before the Taranaki Chamber of Commerce last night by Mr. D. F. C. Saxton. The chamber decided to refer the matter to the New Plymouth Borough Council with the request that a report should be made by the borough engineer. “Bearing in mind that the unemployed at present concentrated at the New Plymouth airport will soon have completed the work, the frequent references in the past year or two to the advantages of a marine parade and the problem of goods sheds and shunting yard accommodation at the railway station,” said Mr. Saxton, “I have noticed that inside a line from the municipal baths in Weymouth Street to Woolcombe Terrace tire sea floor is almost bare at low tide. My suggestion is that the Borough Council should be asked to instruct the engineer to investigate the cost of erecting a seawall along that line.” The proposal was not a new one, said Mr. Saxton, as he understood it was advanced first by the Hon. James McLeod about 30 years ago. Mr. McLeod and two or three others made the suggestion to the Prime Minister at that time, the idea being that the Government should build the wall, the cost to be borne by the Railway Department and the New Plymouth Borough. Council in equal shares. The estimated total cost was £lO,OOO. The Prime Minister was agreeable to the proposal but it had fallen through because of the opposition of the Mayor of New Plymouth at that time, Mr. E. Dockrill, and since then nothing had been done. It appeared that if it were possible to build the wall and fill the area with spoil the land so created would be the very thing for shunting and goods yards, would provide > scope for a marine parade, and would provide work for the unemployed. “It may be that on investigation the proposition will be found impracticable,” he continued, “but I consider it is worth the investigation. There is the problem of obtaining spoil, but much bigger works have been accomplished at Wellington.” Mr. Saxton moved that the chamber ask the council to have the engineer report on alternative proposals, the construction of a wall from the baths to either the outer edge of Woolcombe Terrace or to the point at which the railway line emerges from the cutting. The first alternative would necessitate building in deeper water but would provide a bigger area, and the second would be cheaper. The suggestion was a good one, said Mr. E. V. Tingey. / The backing up of . the Huatoki stream by the tide might be a problem, suggested Mr. S. F. Burgess. No doubt the effect of the rise and fall of the tide would be dealt with in the engineer’s report, commented the chairman.

The motion was seconded by Mr. E. C. Hayton and was carried.