CLAY POINT

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 824, 24 May 1910, Page 3

CLAY POINT

A CITY PROMONTORY'S HISTORY. THROWN INTO THE HARBOUR.Mr. James M'Dowell, an old resident of Wellington, supplies some interesting information rclativo to Clay Point, tlio former name of that one-time harbour promontory now represented by tlint block of buildings occupied by Stewart Dawson and Co. and others, at the corner of illis Street and Lambton Quay. Thirty years ago the spot was known as "M'Dowell's Corner," and subsequently", when the premises were leased to the lat-o Mr. Huxley (tailor), it was as comreferred to as "Huxley's Corner" as it is to-day known as "Stewart Dawson's Corner." In connection with the landslide at the rear of Barrett's Hotel the cliff was referred U as CUy Point, and though a few hundreds or thousands of yards of earth were removed in years gone by, the bluff still locates the site of the Point, and the reference to it as such is substantially more correct than calling the present extremity of the Thorndon Esplanade I'ipitea Point. Mr. M'Dowell's letter is of value in that it describes the manner in which the face of the point was eaten away to supply solid ground on which to erect what is now the busiest, and probably the most valuable part, of the Empire" City. The letter reads as follows:— Si) —Even n generation is at times long enough to cut capers with original facts, and so the statement in The Dominion that Clay Point is obscured by the large buildings in front is a long way from the facts of the case. Tour reporter is not to blame in this

matter, as he had not made his bow to this world until long after the demise of Clay Point, which was so far beyond the height of the buildings that it was tho prominent feature of earlY Wellington, and the high bluff of Clay Point was the early flagstaff Point. It is quite true, as you state, there was only a cartway at the base that was at times slightly covered by the sea. ' Now, as to the long-time vanished Clay Point and the flagstaff, in the early times the east side of Willis Street as far as the rear of the Duke ,of Edinborough Hotel, was the sea beach, the spoil for raising which came from the opposite side of the street. Some residents built little wharves at their back doors. When I went to stay at Osgood's Hotel (now the Empire Hotel) we had boats moored at the foot of the yard, and Mr. Osgood built a balcony projecting over the sea all alone the back of the hotel, from which fish were caught largely when the tide was in. The late Mr. John Pliimner told me he got a contract from Sir George Grey to raise and widen the road at, Clay Point, and later he carted from the Point Clay to fill up and raise the surface of the beach round his ship that ho called Noah's Ark. That was the start. Years later a contract .was let to Mr. Tonks to fill in Lambton Quay as far northward as tho large building on the beach called the AYairarapa Farmers', Customhouse Quay, and Waterloo Quay, down to Cable's foundry. Then there was a lull in reclaiming for years.

"Store than forty years ago I purchased Clay Point, and later the land at the rear up to the boundary of the Grand Hotel and the Marist Brothers' School, and to get down to the level of Willis Street I gave, free of charge, ballast for all ships, including Captain William Dransfield and Gannawa.v's vessels, so that tens of thousands of tons of Clay Point went to form the reclamations at Newcastle, New South Wales, and' to Valparaiso, San Francisco, and many othei ports. So Clay Point only lives historically for more than a generation. Where Clay Point stood I erected buildings, including a brick printing office, and had Messrs. Blundell Bros, as tenants for many years until they built their present offices in Willis Street."