ORIENTAL BAY.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 609, 11 September 1909, Page 6

ORIENTAL BAY.

PROPOSED IMPROVEMENTS. ' (By Citizen.) Wellington at 'the present time possesses in Oriental. Bay its 0110 seaside resort within easy and. speedy, access of tl\e city. •, That.it is a most beautiful spot,, and a valuable addition'to the city's attractions is allowed'by. all.. . Yet for upwards of thirty years past it.has only.been by the'eonsiant vigilance of the . residents in-that locality and its ity, aoting in the' interests ;of the • citizens generally as .well as in .their own, that this great health and scenic asset has been conserved •'for;' the public. The Bay Battles. " -.•> The story of the Oriental Bay preservation and improvement .battles against both public and private machinations to secure the area 'there , now covered by water. mak6s- interestingreading, but is too lengthy for, re-r cital: here iri' detail. Suffice it' to; say that once, tho Harbour Board coveted tho bay, and that : a Bill-had actually passed .through thei'Lower House, and. was in the coinmitteo

[ stage., ini-the'legislative Gouncij; handing over .tho- bay. to- that body,', wlion-. by the strenuous of tho residents, loyally backed : up by!the l citizens' and many members of vPaHaiment,''-tho-'attempt 'was defeated... Then a .'private syndicate , endeavoured , -to ' Secure t of. tho' area. This attack 'was .also-;-repulsed.,,..There -were .other;-' assaults, but in Mayor Blair's reign, in.February, 1898; ■; a numerously-attended publio meeting in tiho Skating Kink passed a resolution that a! special loan' should bo raised for ■ the, purposo' Of improving Cly'do Quay and' forming , ah'esplanade at Oriental Bay. 1 The money was'raised, but every penny of it, was expended .on; work at Clyde Quay, Orioutal Bay .'receiving . no; benefit whatever. . • •'• -' Anothor -Attack. 1 The next serious attack on Oriental Bay 'waf made in' Mayor Hislop's term of office',' when it was actually' decided .by the then City Council:to erect a sea-wall from.-point "to: point of,;the bay,, reclaim, up to it with' 'the refuse'and surplus spoil'of the city, l as these joamQ'.'to^.h'^nd— ..would -have takeV yOars'tk)'oompletb, during whichtime' Oriental Bay> !would have beon the dumping ground for the city's muck and waste—and then ,on part of the area'so reclaimed to form a recreation ' ground, ; the other part to bo used 'as'.building - sites.,' .! 1 Such was tho ostensible object . assigned; although • it was patent , to the average capacity- that, ! owing to tho prevalence of strong. northerly winds, with accompanyiug .heavy seas breaking on sea-wall, such recreation ground, !besldes. being deficioht in width for' any' practical ; purposes, would bo miserable.for a considerable part of tho!year owing to tho spray which would ;be , constantly shed over its surface. Of course, the real motives behind the' proposal, sucn as the necessity for .finding a new' destructor site, and the increased : resulting from leasing- more reclaimed land, etc., were not mentioned. . This attack would have probably," succeeded, but- for the ' energotio action of the, residents, .who again -convened' a publio' .meeting, at which tho proposed action of' the City Council was unanimously and,-vigorouslycondemned; ia resolution'; was then carried asking tho ; council to : put- in hand, as; speedily-.as';possible,' improvement works at the bay according to the plan and ideas of the local. Improvement-.Committee as'-submitted to -the ; meeting. Further,: it was agreed that' Oriental.; Bay should be conserved• fob the citizens'.and- their''children! for. 'all time, and • "that legislative action •to secure -this should- at once be set a-foot. This was presided' over by the present. Attorney-General, the Hon. Dr. Findaly, and included among; those present, Mr. F. M. :B. : Fisher, M.P., and many leading public men of .- Wellington. ' The result, was tho abandonment by the City' Council of its design's' on the bay,-*and-the -setting-up!,of negotiations; between -that 'body arid i,the local . Improvement ' Committee, . when ' the exactvfonn of the jwork. desired by tho' re.sidents"'was placed' More .the council.-. . ' Half-Done and 111-Done.. , .'The.sketch; reproduced .above,'amply.suffices to show what that form was, 'but, briefly, the proposition '.was •'•to,-' widen- tlie then: Oriental; Bay • road to eighty feet , from. point, .to. point;- with - a footpath! ward side, frohiwhich there should:bo:acc6ss. to' the 'beach r :by steps' here and' there ..lot, into- a;-sloping'" revetnient, .' which. should -. have, it's | too" resting on the beach itself; : The -department,', however,' ' re-', fused -to: allow-.,the/pitched'.slopfl to. the beach,.! ind,- an'!spite of the. warnings,-'arid protests, of ' the' residents as- to .seas bfeak- | ing'over ;the, roadway, insisted on the formation: of' a-twoffeot high concrete wall, on the beach, -all! round'-the bay, from :the top of . which the Slope would, rise to the footpath levcl." A -sum of money was voted on ,the; estimates; -and ;a- start; was' made with' the work,, but the funds woro- exhausted : beforo tho . concrete wall - • had traversed one-half, of.-;the curvature ..of- tho bay,: and before the pitched slopo behind it - had . Oven been, formed. The work • ceascd in , this unfinished state, and was allowed ; to remain so. - The •nor'-westers came,' and the heavy seas broke on the ooncreto wall, splashed over behind it, and right; across the roadway, and washed out on to tho . beach much of the. -filling-in 1 work that had been done, leaving a pitiable monument of "how not to do it,' and a disfiguring scar ;on tho face of , Wellington's otherwise most-beautiful-seaside resort. Tho warnings or tlio bay residents against '■ the upright concrete wall because of its tendency to cause: the,seas to break .over the roadway had beon amply borne ont by experience ;. ; thcir furthor warning against*' it owing ,to the danger of children falling off it at high: tide: at tho horns of the bay had also boon . vindicated byj the narrow escapo from drowning by this very means of a resident's child j' and-their-objection to the wall on tho ;scoro of -increased cost and lciigthencd time in complotion of the work seemed to havo been borne out by tho rapidity with which the supply of allocated monoy came.to an end, le.-lvmg the improvement work less than half, finished. .

Thß Wrong and the Right Way. Tho present proposal • of tho City Council is to iraise the poricroto retaining wall on the beach to :tho height of tho footpath all round the bay, which will in no wiso prevent tho breaking of. tho seas over tlio roadway, but will add, as the residents claim, to tlio danger to juveniles, increase, .still further, tho cost of tbo work, and' indefinitely, lengthen

tho time before its completion, besides lessening tho beauty the esplanade would gain from a sloping revetment. The sketch abovo shows a sloping face all round tbe bay,'which it is asserted will break the force of tho northerly seas, minimise tho breaking over tho roadway, and, while lessening tho danger to children, reduce tho cost of construction, and materially enhance the picturesquo nature of the work and the bay generally.