Recession of Beach at Melbourne Stirs Anti-Erosion Move

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 154, 17 July 1937, Page 18

Recession of Beach at Melbourne Stirs Anti-Erosion Move

MELBOURNE — The shoreline of Port Philip Bay, at tlie liead of whieh stands Melboume, is Teceding at tlie rate of a foot a year. Proteetive works, estimated to cost £288,903 are recommended by the foreshore Erosion Board. Of this amount, £219,183, the boaxd says, must be spent in areas requiring attention urgently. Causea of erosion, thd boaxd finds, are: wave action, wind action^ denudation of vegetation along the foreshore, land drainage, removal of materialfrom the foreshore, and the settlement of the continent. Unless aetion is taken promptly the board foresees that valuable beach reserves will be greatly reduced in area, or even lost entirely and, on the eastern shores of tkfc bay, iinpoxtant public highways, constfucted at heavy costs from public funds will be in imminent danger of being destroyed. The construction of sea walls, groynes, and the systematie replanting of tea-tree and other plants, to make good the natural wastage of native flora, are among the recommendations of the Foreshore Erosion Board; which discusses in its report the allocation of the cost between the State Government and the municipal councils concern'ed.