CAROLINE BAY: THE RIVIERA OF NEW ZEALAND

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18008, 13 July 1928, Page 14 (Supplement)

CAROLINE BAY: THE RIVIERA OF NEW ZEALAND

Open as it is to the cool breezes of the Pacific Ocean, in summer, and snugly sheltered from the cold, southerly winds of winter, by the tall, protecting cliffs which form its southern boundary, Caroline Bay is a delightful place at any season of the year, and it is no matter for wonder that it is the rendezvous of many thousands of people every Summer, including visitors from all parts of New Zealand as well as others from overseas. But the Bay would not be so pleasant a place as it is, but for its picturesque setting, its high terrace walks, bright gardens, well-grown shrubberies, neatly kept lav/ns, and rustic fences combining to create a very pleasing effect. Then, too, the buildings on the Bay are imposing, as well as ample for all requirements, these including tea rooms, a hall, band rotunda, salt water baths (hot and cold) with massage rooms attached, tennis pavilion, all requisite bathing facilities, a caretaker’s cottage, and playing apparatus, the latter providing diversity of amusement for children when they become tired of playing on the golden sands. New Zealand possesses no safer bay, the sands shelving so gently that the bather can select any depth of water he desires, and the smallest child can paddle there in safety.

In its pristine state Caroline Bay was a very different place from wliat it is to-day. The sea used to come underneath the railway line which runs in a semi-circle round the Bay, and up to the Main North Road (now known as Evans Street). As the sea threatened to encroach on the road huge blocks of bluestone metgl were tipped there to protect the railway line. A good many people of the present day are unaware that there are two short railway bridges on the line running parallel with the flat stretch of road between the foot of Wai-iti road hill and the foot of the next hill, just north of Beverley road. The one opposite the foot of Wai-iti road is still to be seen, though it is shorter than, and differs in construction from the bridge of earlier days. The other bridge is opposite what for many years was known as Perry’s Pond (now filled in) at the junction of Beverley Road and Evans Street. This bridge was for a long time protected by big rocks from the sea which at one time in rough weather, used to break against the piers and wash over the road into the big pond on the opposite side. But with the advent of the harbour works the sea in Caroline Bay commenced to recede, and the sand to “make.” When this process had gone sufficiently far the railway authorities filled in the spaces between the bays of the bridge with ships’ ballast, and though the bridge cannot be seen to-day, it is still there. Before the bridge was thus made solid there was a well-defined track underneath it, and this was largely used by North Enders Who crossed the sands on their way to town. It not infrequently happened that passengers by train found salt spray coming in the open windows of the carriages when crossing this'bridge, the spray coming from the waves as they spent themselves on the rocks.

Another fact which is perhaps not known to many of the present generation is that a boat —the Lapwing—went ashore at the foot of the cliff which overlooks the tennis courts on the Bay, almost opposite the residence of Mr D. C. Turnbull, in Evans Street. The vessel was subsequently got off without having suffered much damage. Her bowsprit overhung the edge of the cliff when she ran ashore, and the crew had no difficulty in stepping on to dry land.

One happening sometimes recalls another, and for the information of those who were not here in the early days, it may be said that another vessel —the Layard—went ashore at the foot of what was then a tall cliff just opposite what is now known as Seaview House. The vessel had coal on board, and a contract was let to a local carrier—the late Mr J. Ellis—to hoist the coal to the top of the cliff and cart it to the town.

It was about the same spot that the town’s first refuse tip was located, the refuse being carted by dray to the top of the cliff and tipped into the sea. Later, the tip was a little further north, the pine trees (planted by Mr W. Rutherford) having been put there to hide the unsightliness of the tip. The cutting had not then been made through the cliff, for the railway. It probably occurs to few if any of the visitors who picnic among the shrubberies on the lawns on Caroline Bay that before the Harbour was made, they could only havo lunched there in a boat. Rocks may be noted jutting out a little below the clay of the railway embankment. These rocks were the high-tide margin of the Pacific there, and were splashed with spray at low tide, unless the sea was calm. At low tide, and with a calm sea, one could walk along the foot of the rocks on a sloping, wave-worn shelf, to the southern end of the piazza.

There havo been many opinions expressed as to how Caroline Bay received its name, the consensus of opinion seeming to indicate as the most likely, that whalers, who used the Bay as a trying-out station for their catches, named it after one ol their boats, the Caroline. In the whaling days the water which flowed there from the land was known as Whales Creek. The artistic feelings of the community found expression when the Bay was beautified, as it was in very pleasing style, by the making of gardens, lawns and shrubberies, and the erection of buildings which give a pleasing ensemble. To Messrs D. Stuart and G. Stumbles must be given credit for having initiated the Bay improvement scheme. It was in 1897 that the first meeting was held for this purpose. At that time the chief idea was to cut down the cliff, on the sea side, through which the railway runs, so that passengers by rail could see the Bay when passing it. This, however, was not the first work to be done, the Railway Department at first objecting to this on the ground that it might endanger the railway line. Volunteer workers, including professional men, as well as other classes of the community, used to assemble at the Bay on Thursday afternoons, and with pick and shovel they did quite a lot in the way of tidying the place. Afternoon tea was in vogue thus early in the history of the town, and this was supplied by lady friends of the workers, all of whom had as their reward the knowledge of a public service well performed. They, of course, did not say that their work was well done, but other people did. This, then, was the genesis of the beautification of Caroline Bay.

Soon the needs became more pressing than could be met by voluntary workers on half a day per week, and a Caroline Bay Beautifying Association was formed, which lias been doing good work ever since, in conjunction with the Harbour Board and the Borough Council. In 1902 the Harbour Board gave the Borough a lease of approximately 100 acres, including the whole of the Bay, at a peppercorn rental, and Mr James Craigie, who was then Mayor of Timaru, offered a prize of £lO/10/- for the best beautification scheme. This was won by Mr A. J. Morris, of Maori Hill, and his ideas were carried into effect. The Borough Council borrowed £2500 for the work, and public subscriptions amounting to about £IOOO were added to this sum. Those in authority have always recognised that there could be no standing still—that the town must either go forward or backward—and they have always seen to it that the move has been in a forward direction.

Not content with what had already been accomplished, the next move was to convert the then rough-look-ing rubble mole into a marine parade, a work which was carried out in a very satisfactory way, the top of the mole being levelled, a smooth surface being provided on which to walk, with sheltered seats at frequent intervals. Since then a row of electric lights has been erected along the parade for its entire length, and these, with other lights bounding the entire frontage of the Bay and extending to the end of the Benvenue Cliffs, create a fine spectacular

effect at night. The Harbour Board generously gave a cash grant of £l5O towards (he cost of Ihe improvements. in addition io granting the Borough a lease of the Bay. It was in 1911 that the Bay Association was formed, since which time it has raised and spent large sums on the improvement of the Bay and its environs. Altogether it has spent £8450 in this way, and the Borough Council lias spent about £12,000, while the average maintenance cost (that is to say, the charge on the General Fund of expenditure in excess of revenue 1 is between £8 0 0 and £IOOO per annum. The first public baths on the Bay (located at the town end) were made in 1877, by E. Yardlcy. In 18 G 9 a tent had been erected for the convenience of bathers.

EARLY TOWN VALUES,

That a wide difference in the prospects of Rhodes Town and of Government Town was recognised quite early is indicated by the demand for sites for business and residences in the former, and the lack of it in the latter. The Government offered its quarter-acre sections at the “upset price” of £l2/10/- each. That is, any sections applied for were put up to auction, and the price to be paid depended on the bidding. (This is the manner in which the Harbour Board lets its sections on the beach). The first sections applied for were a row of them between High Street and the sea, and four on each side of Queen Street. These were applied for in 1857 but were not auctioned till 1864, when 26 sections were put under the hammer and sold at an average of £l6 each, the highest price being £22/10/-. Quarter-acres in Rhodes Town, not near the beach, were priced at £2O each, but sections near the beach the

owners preferred to let on long leases at £5 a year. They placed in charge of land sales Captain Scott, who put high prices on sections deemed likely to become good business sights, £OO being about the lowest. For choice sections buyers paid hundreds of pounds. It is recorded that one section, bought at £2O, changed hands at £2lO even before the deed was completed for the first sale. The Government Town lots hung fire in the market so much that eventually, in order to close the account, the Government presented a lot of unsold sections to the Borough Council as an endowment.