LOOKING AHEAD

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2697, 17 February 1916, Page 9

LOOKING AHEAD

GROWTH OF CITY AND PORT

IMPORTANT CONFERENCE PEND

On existing agreements the Wellington Harbour Board lias gone almost as far as.it is able'to go in the direction of winning land from the harbour by means of reclamation. The work already done b.y contractors, • and in recent .years by the Harbour Board, has altered the detailed contour of Lambton Harbour from Pipitea Point on the west to the Te Aro Baths on the cast, almost beyond recognition. Indeed, there arc many people of soyoral years' residence in Wellington who would be hard put to it to say where i Jpifcea. Point is; yet it was one of Hl9 commanding features of the bay as fashioned by Nature. Now tie point and the remaining eyidences of the old saluting battery have been almost lost inland, so extensive is the area of reclaimed laud seaward of the old waterfront. One effect of the "big steal" from the harbour has been prejudicial to one city institution—Hie rhorndon Baths. Some ten years ago these baths were fairly popular with the public at the northern end of the city, but they have gradually .silted up with the steady advance of the new laud immediately to the south-east. As the position now stands it is inevitable that the Thorndon Baths must go—it is inevitable that the greater part of the Kaiwarra Bight—between the Esplanade am} Kaiwarra—must he reclaimed. The land so created must be valuable m half a dozen ways, as it is at the gateway of the city, and to advocate an adverse policy would be setting back the hands of •tho clock. There afe big changes coming at that end of the city as soon as the world ceases this suicidal war, and there are those Who arc, very wiH.v, looking ahead in order that tiu V, thing shall be done when son: t i s done. .The Mayor GV. j. p. Luke) has given the matter a good deal of attention lately, and he and Mr. C. E. Daniell, chairman of the Wellington Harbour Board, have* met to discuss the development of the port and the expansion of the city as far as this end of the borough' is concerned. The city, on its side, has three considerations: the Esplanade Eoad, the plantation, and the baths, whilst tho Harbour Board will naturally wish to extend its l? e of Ivllarves further northward in the near fukre (the Pinitea Wharf being practical 1 !.;- in hand now). Messrs, ijuko and Daniell saw at once that there must be another party to any general scheme of Hallway Department. When tho war. broke out, the Department was about to push on with the Central Station scheme, a work that is going to have an influence on the inward'and outward traffic, and the reclamation of tho Kaiwarra Bight will doubtless affect the track lines running into the city. That being the case, Mr. Luke wrote to Colonel Hiloy, General Manager of ttio Railway Department asking ■if ho would be good enough to allow liis chief engineer (M*r. M'Lean) to confer -with Messrs. W. H. Morton and James Marchbanks, engineers of the City Corporation and Harbour Loard respectively, in order that some definite improvement scheme may be determined upon that will be in tho interests of the city, the port, and the Ixailway Department Mr. Luke has heard from Colonel Hiley agreeing to the proposed conference of engineers, and that conference will be hold on tho return cf Mr Morton from Australia. In Mr. Luke's opinion the effect of further reclamation at the: extreme' northern end of the oity_ will entail the remodelling of that .neighbourhood. It is practically certain tnat the baths will have to go r and then there will be the fate of the Jisplanade to consider, in connection with the interests of the city and port irom a commercial aspect, also the Railway Department, as an indispensable public utility. "That is why we want to get Jibe engineers of all throe parties togetner," said tho Mayor, "in order to get the best scheme for everybody concerned. After they have coiiterred and agreed upon a scheme they will each report to the body thev serve with a view to joint action and" a prearranged definition of rights " -Referring to tie Thorndon Baths, Mr Luke said that h 0 dW not know yet whether or not some substitution would have to be made for those baths, mere _ were two ideas—one was for municipal tepid baths for the northern (Thorndon) end of the city, slid the other was the building of new salt£l ?u th tx There were difficulties about the latter, as the- waterfront would, in years to come, be needed for the extension of the wharves, and further . if they were provided now some provision would have to be made for admitting the water to the baths from some considerable depth below the surface on account of the pollution of Hie surface of the harbour by the shipping. Instead,of decreasing, that was likely to increase as the port grew. Thenj if such a course were resorted to there would have to be mechanical means for ' emptying the baths now and again. Altogether Mr. Luke thought that if anything of the kind were done, tepid baths would be the best solution of the difficulty. "Wellington is going to he a big city and a great port,"-said Mr. Luke in l conclusion, "and it is np to the public men to loyally and energetically work tor the expansion of both and the advancement of the whole district."