WESTERN SHORT-CUT

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 187, 4 May 1940, Page 10

WESTERN SHORT-CUT

Concrete Road To Support Clay Bank

The Wellington city engineer’s department has decided that it is necessary to continue the concrete, retaining wall which supports one section of the bank on the southern side of the new western access road. At this point the northern edge of the old Sydney Street Cemetery had to be cut into to secure the desired gradient for the road. This meant a good deal of excavation, leaving a fairly high clay bank. Part of the bank fell away last winter, at a point near a group of very old graves. As all the evidence points to further trouble in that quarter, it has been decided to continue the concrete wall right round to a point near the old entrance to the cemetery in Sydney Street west. This has been rendered necessary by the nature of the ground, clay without even rotten rock to give it solidity. . Another safeguard that is to be taken is the construction of a fence along the edge of the cemetery bank. One of the old paths ends abruptly at the edge of the bank, and in the half light a pedestrian might easily walk over the edge under the impression that he was on solid ground. Due care of the graves is being taken in any work that is done along the flanks of the new highway. In one instance the cutting was so close to a grave that the fencing posts on one side almost overhung the edge, threatening to fall. On this grave there was a slab of totara wood, which bore the inscription: “George Robert Purdy, died May 19, 1884, aged 30. This tablet was erected by his friends as an affectionate tribute to his memory.” The city authorities decided to remove the old weather-worn wooden slab altogether, and in its place erect one in concrete, placing thereon a solid bronze plate bearing the same inscription.