PATITI POINT.

Timaru Herald, Volume XCVIII, Issue 18084, 23 June 1924, Page 8

PATITI POINT.

THE TOWN’S RUBBISH DUMP. A BLOT ON THE LANDSCAPE In Caroline Bay, Timaru lias an asset 01 which it may be justly proud —and in Patiti Point, a feature of w.,ich it may well be ashamed. Everything possible has been done to make the Bay as beautiful as. it can be, and there can be no question that in this direction, the efforts made have been crowned with success. Unfortunately, the efforts to beautify the town have been confined largely to such places as Caroline Bay and the Public Gardens, and the coastline south of the town has been allowed to become a blot on an otherwise fair landscape: a repository for refuse and rubbish of every description It must be .admu ted that a rubbish-dump for the town was a necessity before the days of destructors, but it is to be regretted that, through lack of foresight, a site should have been chosen which would later prove to be unsuitable for such a rapidly growing town as Timaru has become. i It is quite v, r ithin the bounds ot possibility that at some future time, had Patiti Point not been used for this purpose, this hit of beach, though perhaps not safe for bathing, would at all events have made a pleasant picnic ground as a change from Caroline Bay, and a motor drive along the sea-front would have added to the attractions of Timaru. The contrast between the north and south sides of the harbour is too well known to need stressing. On the north, there is the neat and wellkept expanse of sandy beach, backed bv creeper-covered cliffs and pleasant homes: on the south, a mile-long stretch of shingle, littered with rubbish from end to end. The cause of this unsigntliiiess is the town rub-bish-dump of Patiti Point, where there is accumulated the refuse of decades. Thousands of rusty benzine tins, tons of ashes, a large number of olcl inotor-truck tyr&s of all sizes, carded'kitchen utensils, old iron and tinware of all descriptions, and countless other items form a veritable mountain of rubbish, between 300 and 400 yards in length, and twenty feet in depth. The evil of this agsrcgation of uncleanness is not confined to its offensiveness to the eye, for the large quantity of decaying food and vegetable matter provides_a happy hunting-ground tor myriads of rats, and a breeding place for germs of disease. Every southerly rale brines with it a high sea which washes along the coast undermines the pile of rubbish, and strews the beach to the northward with rusty fins right up to the Eastern ExtenThe proximity of the dump to the Caledonian Sports Ground and the south end of the town is another matter for regret. Frequently there is a considerable amount of burning ot rubbish being done, and the sea breeze wafts an extremely offensive odour over the homes of those who live in that vicinity, and causes much discomfort to the spectators on the Sports Ground when sports are m progress. , .. . Unfortunately the accumulation of rubbish has been allowed to grow to such proportions that it would be a difficult matter to obluei-ate it. Nevertheless, it is possible that in the course of time, by the action of the seas and the weather pernaps assisted by the expendituie ot a little labour, and the adoption ot some other means ot disposing in a more hvgN-nic manner of the town’s refuse the Place might neoome covered up and overgrown. Tlum fie vminitv of Patiti Point might be given a chance to become an asset to the town instead of a reproach. One means suggested towards this end is the construction of a rubbish destructor, which, besides satisfactorily disposing of refuse, would perhaps prevent wastage. It is estimated that there is about worth of material which could have been put to some profitable use, ljing on the beach. .