“NO MAN’S LAND”

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 593, 20 February 1929, Page 16

“NO MAN’S LAND”

PT. CHEVALIER WANTS BEACH CONTROL CITY COUNCIL SUGGESTED At two separate and well-at-tended meetings in Point Chevalier last evening it was decided unanimously that an endeavour be made to have the beach control vested in the City Council. The council will now be approached and asked to. make representations to the Government through the Minister of Marine. The bodies co-operating in the movement are the Point Chevalier Sailing Club and the Progressive League. The formal resolution was: That the Auckland City Council be approached and asked that representations be made to the Government to have the beach vested in the City Council. Two deputations, consisting of the following Point Chevalier representatives, was appointed to wait on the council:—Sailing Club—Messrs. W\ R. Allen (commodore), F. Dyson, G. Dunn and Bryan Dunningham; Progressive League—Messrs. F. G. Rose (chairman), W. A. Phillips and M. P. Hooper. Prior to the meeting, the Mayor of Auckland, Mr. G. Baildon, visited Point Chevalier at the invitation of the Progressive League, and, accompanied by Mr. Rose and members, made an inspection of the beach at low tide. At the Sailing Club meeting, Mr. Allen presided over an attendance of about forty members. Cr. M. J. Coyle, a resident of Point Chevalier. was present at the invitation of the club. RESPONSIBLE CONTROL In opening the proceedings, the chairman stressed the advantages that would accrue were the control of the beach placed in the hands of a responsible body in a position to exercise the necessary authority. Preferably that body was the City Council. Cr. Coyle said that, to-day, the council had no rights beyond its own boundaries. The beach was "no man’s land,” and it was nobody’s business to see that everything was as it should be. He was firmly of opinion that tho beach should be under some responsible authority, always providing that the riparian rights of residents were recognised and protected. He advised the meeting as to the best method of placing the opinions of the meeting before the Government through the City Council.

The present condition of the beach was the subject of considerable comment, speakers contending that the punt which was removed last week had been responsible for hundreds of yards of sand shifting a quarter of a milo of the foreshore and depositing itself opposite the rear of Dixieland. “If a punt caused all that change, what would baths do?” asked Mr. Rose. After their meeting, the members of the Progressive League issued the following statement to The Sun: “DENUDED OF SAND” “We realise that if what has been going on continues, one of the best beaches in Auckland will be made worthless. We know it has been stated by writers, anonymous and otherwise, that the beach is better than ever it was. We agree—as far as the area at the rear of Dixieland is concerned. That has been improved at the expense of a quarter of a mile of the beach further along. “That quarter of a mile has been left bare, with mud and papa rock showing. We would invite every citizen to come and see for himself, and. if given sufficient notice, we can introduce visitors to old residents who will

nSFhoen 1 ® turnps - an, 3 rock that have not been showing for ten years. . -Feint Chevalier has been strong extep sion, but if the beach is to be denuded we are not going to di^triY.+ a^°U T»3 ramway s coming into the district. We consider that it will tak© about twelve months to right the damage caused by the punt. There is no question whatever of persecution, we seek merely to protect the beach as a whole.