AFTER THIRTY YEARS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 757, 2 September 1929, Page 10

AFTER THIRTY YEARS

OLD AUCKLANDER’S IMPRESSIONS CITY’S WONDERFUL GROWTH “The wonderful growth of Auckland in general and of the outer suburban areas in particular is nothing short of astounding,” said Mr. D. L. Smart, of the staff of- the Mahora School at Hastings. Mr. Smart has been spending a holiday in Auckland after an absence of about 30 years and naturally sees a vast difference from the Auckland he knew In his younger days. Cabbage tree swamps and barren wastes have been built on or converted Into splendid playing areas. One of the first disappointments that awaited Mr. Smart as his train drew into the Auckland station was the absence of the grand old pohutukawa trees that used to grow along Beach Road. These have long since been replaced by warehouses and other modern buildings. In company with the Mayor, Mi'. Geo. Baildon, Mr. Smart was taken round the city, and a visit was paid to the zoo. He was astounded at the transformation wrought in the rocky waste. Other old friends that he missed were the huge manuka trees which used to be outstanding marks in the Domain. The waterfront also was a source of great. Interest to Mr. Smart, who well remembers when the sea at high tide once came up to the back steps of the old post office In Shortlar.d Street. Mr. Smart remembers the launching of the schooner Sovereign, which traded to the Islands about 50 years ago. This took place at the foot of Albert Street, where Customs Street now intersects it. HARBOUR TUNNEL FAVOURED 111 speaking of the proposed Harbour Bridge, Mr. Smart was inclined to be scepticeil as he remembered his father talking about it in the early seventies. His opinion is that a tunnel across from the bottom of Queen Street to Stanley Bay would be cheaper than a bridge and would not cause any interference with shipping. hie considered the cost of the proposed bridge prohibitive. On the question of the northern railway outlet the visitor gave the opinions of his father, Mr. Thomas Smart, an Auckland City Council employee for over 40 years, some of whose suggestions might still be practicable. The first was the carrying of the line up Grafton Gully and the piercing of the hill through to Mount Eden station, which would have meant a comparatively short tunnel and would have relieved the congestion at Newmarket. Another idea was to bring the line through Avondale. Point Chevalier and Ponsonby. In those days there were no serious obstructions to an uninterrupted run and very little in the way of compensation for land would have to have been made. However, the existing provincial Government in those days left things to their engineers, who apparently did not feel inclined to accept the suggestions. The Morningside tunnel scheme in the air at present did not commend itself to Mr. Smart at all. as he considered it too costly an undertaking. Speaking of a trip to Tuakau, where he had charge of the school before going to Hawke’s Bay, Mr. Smart was delighted with the progress and prosperity manifest everywhere—Papatoetoe, Manurewa and other places en route having grown out of all knowledge. The schools, of course, were his special interest and he was astounded at the large increase in the number of children attending them, compared with what there had been when he knew them. SAME BRIDGE OVER WHAU Driving to Henderson yesterday morning the visitor was enthusiastic in his praise of the concrete roads, but on arrival at the Whau Bridge just north of Avondale he was surprised to find the same old structure doing duty as a means of crossing the stream where he and the present leading City fathers as boys used to go flat fishing. He thought it would have been replaced by a modern bridge years ago. Mr. Smart is returning to Hastings shortly very pleasantly impressed at the enormous progress Auckland has made in the last quarter of a century, but he still regrets the loss of the huge manuka trees In the Domain and the grand old pohutukawas along Beach Road.