THE KEY TO THE RANGITOTO CHANNEL-AUCKLAND’S NEW HARBOUR DEFENCES.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLV, Issue 26, 28 December 1910, Page 29

THE KEY TO THE RANGITOTO CHANNEL-AUCKLAND’S NEW HARBOUR DEFENCES.

All L »r«i Kitchem r‘s recommendations for the harbour defences of the Dominion are being carried out by the Government, and one of the most important of the Field Marshal's suggestions was for the establishment of a fort at Burtons Point. Lake I aka puna. This situation, as shown by the above panorama, would command such an arc of tire as to make it the key to the Rangitoto Channel. The new fort will take the place of the present one at Takapuna Head or Starks Point, as it was formerly called. Ix»rd Kitchener condemned this spot as soon as he saw it. and indicated Burton’s Point, which is further seaward, as the proper place to defend. The intentions of the Government were indicated in tin* Supplementary Estimates, one of the items of which was £2<m»o as the first all**—- of a £lO. (MM) vote for the acquisition of land at Burton’s Point for defence purposes. The first photo shows where the new defences will be. Inset is a drawing showing the type of fort which modern guns have rendered obsolete. The tendency nowadays is to place the big guns in masked positions of vantage, where wide angles of tire are cured ami large areas of sea or land can be swept.