LAKE MILFORD PICNIC.

Timaru Herald, Volume CI, Issue 15542, 30 December 1914, Page 5

LAKE MILFORD PICNIC.

NEW YEAR'S DAY. ARRANGEMENTS COMPLETE. A PEEP INTO HISTORY. The annual grand public picnic at Lake Milford (or Milford Lagoon as it is more commonly called, will be helG on Friday next, New Year's Day. The arrangements oi the energetic Temuka district committee are now comp.e.te, and only tine weather is required to write another promising page in the history of this rapidly developing resort. A peep into the history of the development movement is given below. First, however, the public will probably be more interested to learn of the provision made for their' transportation and pleasure on the day of the picnic. Motor-cars and drags will commence running from the Temuka Post Office, to'the Lake at 10 a.m., and on the return journey at 4 p.m. The fares will be: Drags, adults 6d, children 3d each way; motor cars, adults and children Is each way. Intending picnickers from Timaru and surrounding districts may therefore travel by any train to Temuka, and return by any train they please; the conveyances will bo running continuously. A refreshment booth, under the management of Mr G. lurby, will be on the grounds, and tea, sandwiches, cakes, sweets, cordials, fruit salads etc. will be obtainable all day at customary shop prices. The committee have been careful to retain i<s much of the free-and-easy picnic atmosphere as possible,. and therefore the sports programme is confined chiefly to the afternoon, and is arranged so that the picnickers are thpmselves largely the competitors. Trophies and similar prizes are offering for all the events, and toys for the children, and the professional element in the sports is kept strictly at bay. Every convenience is provided for family parties, to whom hot water is supplied, and the water supply and oilier conveniences .on the reserve made accps'SiWe. The attractions of the seaside and splendid boating facilities on the In goon are such that hundreds of people give themselves entirely to this form of pleasure. The fishing facilities ■are excellent. and in this .re*pent it mav be mention "d that Mr R.. Marshall, fishinc off the beach last week, landed a 601b proper. The programme provided for the public entertainment may be summarised as follows: — 12 noon to 1.30 p.m—Children's sports. 2 ap.m.—Official opening, and short speeches by Patron (Mr J. S. Rutherford), president (Mr H. H. Hayhurst), and chairman of Temuka Road Board (Mr G. W. Armitage). 2.30 p.m. onwards:— Single Ladies' Marathon. Married Ladies' Race. Men's Obstacle Race. Farmers' Lost Hat Handicap. Maoris Demonstration—hakas and dances. Ladies' Swimming Race. Men's Half-Mile Swimming' Race across Lake. Amphibious (Land and Water) Race. Sculling races (keeled and flat-bot-tomed boats). Challenge Tug-oMYar. Twelve rowing boats will be at the disposal of the public in charge of competent boatmen. Members of the Temuka Municipal and Pipe Bands will provide music. A number of kites and other aerial devices will be as ceiided by Mr A. B. Ghys—an expert in this line —for the edification of the children. There will be no charge for admission to the picnic, but a collection will be taken up in aid of improvements to the Lake and Reserve.

I AT NIGHT. Following the public picnic, there will be a grand open-air picture entertainment in the Teuiuka Park, and the . ascent of a large balloon in the evening at 8 p.m. - The admission will be adults Is, children 6d, and the proceeds will go towards the development of the public estate at' Lake Milford. A PEEP INTO HISTORY. Dipping far back into history, the ■ older folk will remember the time I when a grim little contest was waged I between the advocates of Lake Milford j and the advocates of the present site for the harbour of South Canterbury. i The Timaru advocates won. and Lake Milford slipped back quietly into ob- | livion. Gradually, however, its unique fishing qualities became widely known through'the Maoris who, year by year, at the mouth, of the lake where the river discharges into the Pacific Ocean, were in the habit of catching almost every variety of fish —from big gi oper and shark down to the minute whitebait. Europeans commenced to favour the resort, and there sprang up an agitation for a road access to the place. Mr Gaze was the leading light in this movement, which'v> a.* eventually crowned with success, and instead of Lake frequenters trespassing over private property, a five chain road was opened with Government assistance . right to the sea. Nothing succeeds like success, and the Milford Resort Improvement -Association which had recently come into existence commenced to develop bigger ambitions. At the side of the lake, near where, the river meets the sea, the Association secured a coupfe of sections. That very generous gentleman, Mr John S. Rutherford, added a gift of one. and a half acres. Next year another gentleman, the late Colonel Hayhurst—impressed ■ by the possibilities" of the resort — joined with Mr Rutherford in making another handsome gift of over five acres of land, placing the Association in possession of a magnificent landed property of a little over seven, acres— I all fi-onting the Lake. "With this ~fino asset to work upon the Association has from time to time raised, i funds by public picnics and tile like, being further assisted by gen'erous benefactions ifcjom 'the late Thomas Hobson's bequest. Thus starting ; three years ago with a roadline, iiie Association has now landed property which (computed upon the basis of the selling value of sections thereabouts) is valued at close upon £IOOO. Upon tliis area the Association has planted over 1000 trees, erected sanitary conveniences for men, woman and children, erected a large public shelter: shed, with open fire place, concrete ! floor, and ladies' retiring room; provided fresh water supp'y tanks; erected 60 chains of fencing; provided a horse paddock equipped with post-and-rail fence; constructed swings and 'see-saws, and levelled and grassed a children's playing reserve. All this ■ has been accomplished within the brief 'space of less than three years, while for the corning year the Association is undertaking the erection of a boating jetty, bathers' dressing theds •in concrete; and propose, if funds aw available, to provide a motor-launch, i under a'competent caretaker, for boat- ' trips for the public on the Lake. Approximately £2OO has been spent in ; 2£ years in this way (besides a lirge amount of . gratuitious labour'), and over £IOO will be spent this doming year. The Association has already £SO promised from the Hobson be- , quest towards the cost of bathing J, sheds, and it is to raise tlie_ balance ' of the funds required for boating jetty j and launch that the picnic and similar j, entertainments are held. •

Three years ago Lake. Milford was an isolated, barren spot, with no public access. To-day it has all the modem conveniences enumerated above, and bids fair to become one of the most favoured holiday resorts in +he Province of Canterbury. The thousand trees planted are progressing splendidly, and in a few years this beautiful spot, where the river meets the sea, will be clothed in a natural beauty that will add immensely to its attractions. Already, so quickly have the fishing, boating and atmospheric channs of this resort been -pread abroad, that over a score of summer resort houses and huts have been erected near the Lake by enterprising Timaru vnd Canterbury holiday makers. What the future holds it is difficult to estimate; but that, in the near future, the public estate at Lake Milford will be worth many thousands of pounds, seems to be beyond a doubt. Meantime the public swarm by hundreds to the Lake at week-ends, and on Friday nest it is anticipated that the attendance will be not less than 3000 to 4000 souls. The lake it should be explained, is divided from the Pacific Ocean by a long, flat stretch of beach. Seawards of the beach the great billows of the Pacific thunder and roar; landwtrda of the beach the waters of the Lake nestle in placid calm, disturbed only by the ripple of the river as it v. ends its way through the lake to the sea. The lake itself is a mile and a half in length and half a mile in breadth, and at its deepest part has a depth of about thirty feet. The lake affords an absolutely unrivalled fishing and boating resort, and has a rowing course that is considered to have no rival in the South Island. Lake Milford is fire miles from Ternuka. and 17 miles from Timaru by rail and road.