THE BEACH A RETROSPECT.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 1926, 14 January 1919, Page 3

THE BEACH A RETROSPECT.

(Contributed.) “The old order ehangoih, yielding place to new.” And indeed the present appearance and. population of the Beach marks a change from the order of the coaching., days. As years go, wc are an old and venerable people, whose records and history date hack to the Sixties. Lung before the construction of the Wel-lington-Manawatn railway there existed near the month of the Manawatu River an hotel —with a license —whereat passengers and horses alike washed the dust from their throats before being ferried across the river to continue along the coast their weary ride to Wellington. ' In those days the river flowed out to sea along what is the present river Hat, between Hie staff and (ho coast-light, and right at its mouth, was situated the pilot’s house,'the remains of which may to-day he seen two or three miles to the north of the present mouth. On the south, side, in strong contrast to pi’csentday conditions, ran a smooth river head), ideal for coaching. It was along this®ronle that the old Hyderabad, laden with railway iron for the New Zealand Government, was wrecked, and her remains still attract the more adventurous of the younger generation. Of recent years, (lie coast lias offered newer attractions in the shape of stranded German mines, the explosion of one of which, so the Beach storekeeper assured ns, caused his shop and himself to rise four feet in Hie air, and to settle slowly down again. This just after noon. We wonder! But, with'the advent of the Welling-(on-Manawatu railway, the old order ceased. The lively inn", with its welcome refreshments, disappeared, and the Beach was left to the vagaries of a few fishermen. As years rolled on a seaside settlement began to be formed in what is now known as the .Sanatorium. Leases wore obtained from the Marine Department, and about a dozen cottages erected. But the constant, movement of the river southward left these cottages stranded further and further from the water, and after a few years—about 1906 — the (irsl cottages were built on the Beach front by Messrs Belt, Bonnet I, and Torslons'in, of Palmerston. This was (he. beginning. Collages rapidly arose, and with the completion of the road the crowd of visitors became greater limn ever. A jelly was built, a Beach .Improvement Committee formed, bathing sheds erected, trees planted, a ball construcled, until the Beach of the fill are promises |o equal, if not eclipse, (he favourite resorts of the urban areas.