SAVED IN TIME.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 224, 21 September 1928, Page 8

SAVED IN TIME.

MOUNT ALBERT CONE.

CLOSING OP THE QUARRY.

BEAUTIFICATIOX SCHEME IN VIEW

"It- is a matter of deep gratification that the quarry on the summit of Mount Albert is to be closed and the quarry line connecting with the railway at Mount Albert removed," said the Hon. j Sir George Fowlds this morning. Sir George added that the agitation to save the Mount Albert cone from disfigurement started forty years ago when the Public Works Department was quarrying scoria from the summit, the Minister of Public Works at that period being Sir Edwin Mitchelson. "It was only a small quarry then," said Sir George. "There is no gainsaying the fact that as the years went on the quarry provided a huge amount of firstclass ballast for the railways, but it was a matter of extreme regret that the hill—it was regarded by many as the most beautiful cone on the jsthmus in its original shape—has been so torn and scarred and its crest lowered by about sixty feet." Sir George s§id that much that had been done could not be remedied, but the I quarry site could be made a beautiful place by the planting of trees and the battering of the sides to an angle of safety. Already a portion of the hilltop was vested in the Mount Albert Borough Council, and he presumed that the rest of the area would be transferred to local control. The removal of the quarry line would eliminate four dangerous crossings. "The present decision is a matter of gratification and joy," continued Sir George, "and will be highly appreciated by the whole of the community. In doing what has been done the Government has set f. good example. At a comparatively small expenditure the hilltop can be made very beautiful, and Nature will soon aid the landscape gardener to cover the ugly scars which have been made." "Although the residents of Mount' Albert will be particularly pleased with the decision made, it is a very important matter for the whole of Auckland,", said the Mayor of Mount Albert (Mr. L. j E. Rhodes). He added that in June last, when in Wellington, he made represents- 1 tions to the Prime Minister on the subject, and now it was definitely decided that the quarry was to be closed. It would have been better had that decision been made ten years ago, but it was better late than never. Mr. Rhodes pointed out that there was a wider aspect. The Mount Albert Borough Council would now be in a position, seeing that the quarry line was to be removed, to go on with the work of reconstructing the New North Road. The work would be done in permanent material and up to the best standard, and probably they would be in a position to call tenders about next Christmas. The selection of paving material—concrete or bitumen—was a matter to be decided. Provision would be made, when the reconstruction work was started, so that the tram lines could be extended beyond the present terminus to the Mount Albert boundary. Up to the present there had been a general holdup of the proposals on account of the level crossing of the quarry lJtae. Mr. Rhodes mentioned that there was a private quarry on the southern slope of Mount Albert, and the council was insisting on every step being taken to have proper batters provided in order that it should not be unsightly. In conclusion Mr. Rhodes referred to .the main quarry, which has been the source of so much controversy in the past, and expressed the hope that the Mount Albert Borough Council would be successful in getting control of the area with the object of transforming it into a reserve.