FOXTON SEASIDE RESORT.

Manawatu Herald, Volume LI, Issue 4406, 25 January 1930, Page 2

FOXTON SEASIDE RESORT.

BETTER. ROADS WANTED,

The present bad and' dangerous ’ road access to the Foxton Beach ,was the subject of a discussion at .■the Chamber of Commerce meeting on Thursday evening. Mr. A. Alsop, a resident at Manama tu Heads of seven veairs standing, and member of the Chamber, brought the matter up when he referred to the fact that the growing popularity of other beac-hes along this coast was due to the fact that they had well laid out roads and streets giving safe access to the beach and dwellings, whereas at the local seaside there was no such access and ear owners were not prepared to run the risk of damage to their vehicles when they could visit other beaches in safety. The access to the local beach at night was absolutely dangerous. A little, work had recently been carried out on the Sanatorium road, hut it was not safe to travel over this road at more, than four miles an hour in a car. Under such circumstances it was impossible for the local seaside resort to compete with other beaches. Get better roads, said Mr. Alsop, and you will soon get the people to patronise the beach. A little while ago a sum of money was raised and voted to the construction of teunis courts. That move I strenuously opposed as I considered that the first duty of any body raising money for the carrying out of improvements at the seaside was to provide good roads. The majority however, were of the opinion that it was necessary to eaten 1 for sports before anything else as an attraction to the seaside and £IOO was .-•pent on laying down hard courts ai the rear of the hall. People who ■" patronised the beach also patronised Foxton and it was in the interests of the Foxton people to do what they could for the Beach. I understand that the local committee of the Foxton Harbour Board met recently to discuss a proposition to remove a sandhill between the present cutting leading out ou to the beach and the fence and to shift the road.over nearer the fence in order to give better access, said Mjr. Alsop. In my opinion that access will never be satisfactory. The sandhills at the mouth of the river on the southern side have now disappeared, due to river erosion and sand drift and ts a result of the river making to the south the Oliver is now striking right into the river beach in the vicinity of Mr. Baker’s residence near the cutting. At high water the cutting is practically inaccessible now and can never prove satisfactory. The only solution to the difficulty is to properly form the hack road up to its junction with the. Beach Home road or even continue it right out giving section holders access to their sections, higher up.

A new five-roomed house is already in the course of erection on the site of the old pilot light and, given better access, many more houses would go up in this locality. During the past few days the Harbour Board had. (tax bands strewn over the sand giving reasonably safe access to the ocean beach from the old river bed and as a result when a whale was reported stranded on the beach, hundreds-of ears made the trip down to see it. That was some slight indication of what access would do to popularise the beach. The Board had dozens of sections which would be snapped up immediately if there was good road access to them. The president (Air. J. K. Hornhlow) said that Tangimoana settlement possessed good roads but there be understood the position was somewhat different from the local beach. The Minister of Crown Lands had been approached and a grant obtained from the Lands 'Department. At the local seaside section holders were loaded with a loading rate and it was only a fair thing that they should receive something in the nature of roading improvements for their money. , Mjr. Alsop said that a few years ago Mr. Nairn, of Palmerston N., went fully into the matter of the loading levy imposed on beach section holders and discovered that even then an amount £9O in excess of what should lie levied had been collected. It was decided to leave the matter of further enquiry into the position in the. hands of Mi*. H. E. Pei'reau wiio is to report to the next meeting of the Chamber.