HOBSON BAY RECLAMATION

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1036, 29 July 1930, Page 1

HOBSON BAY RECLAMATION

PROPOSAL TO FORM CITY PARK SPORTS FIELDS AND SHOW GROUNDS IF the plans of the Hobson Bay Preservation Society are realised, Auckland will have another glorious playground and one of the most lovely parks in the eastern part of the City. The object is to reclaim an area of approximately 100 acres in Hobson Bay. This will include the present disfiguring mud-flats and low-lying land inside the sewer pipe-line which runs across the bay from Parnell to Bemuera.

Negotiations between the Hobson Bay Preservation Society, the City Council, and the Harbour Board, have been proceeding for many months Now, after many deputations and consultations, the Harbour Board, under certain conditions, is willing to assist with the proposals. The scheme in hand is to raise the area in Hobson Bay above high water mark. This could be done, the society maintains, by dredging the outer area of the bay, beyond the sewer line, to a depth sufficient to make it an excellent harbour for small boats and using the spoil to fill in the required area. If this is done the Harbour Board will require that the dredging is not done sufficiently far out to interfere with the new waterfront railway. A ramp will be necessary to protect the sewer which Will also require to be sheathed inside. At present the sewer stands on piles. When it was first put down by the Drainage Board the sum of £6,000 was deposited as a guarantee that this work would be done when required. So far that money has not been touched, but if the scheme for reclaiming Hobson Bay becomes a reality the gaps between the piles on which the sewer stands will be filled in, thus forming a retaining wall to hold the dTedge filling. ESTIMATE OF £70,000

The cost of reclamation is estimated at between £70,000 and £75.000. It may be pointed out that an area of 65 acres was reclaimed for the Dunedin Exhibition site at a cost of 10Jd a cubic yard. One of the many advantages of reclaiming Hobson Bay will be the improved quick road access to the city. •This, it is anticipated, will relieve the congestion through Newmarket. It is suggested in the scheme that the new waterfront road be linked with the reclaimed area in Hobson Bay by a road-link from the main thoroughfare along the foreshore of the bay with the waterfront road at Point Resolution, along the foot of the cliff Another great advantage, and a distinct benefit to the City, is that the Auckland Agricultural and Pastoral Association will lease 64 acres as a permanent home for its annual show It is also thought that the Winter Show might be held there and any other functions organised by these two bodies. For the remainder of the year the showgrounds would be available for sports and other amusements. A plan of the area which it is pro posed to reclaim has been prepared for the society, and is reproduced elsewhere. This shows a wide ther oughigre running along the front of the SBture park, taking traffic from Victoria Avenue, Portland and otheroads on the Remuera side to join the Waterfront Road at Point Resolution Other roads, running through th“ park, link Shore Road with the pro

posed new road, which is to be called Waitemata Parade. In the middle of the park, on the new road, will be a monument of Hobson, with flower beds surrounding one half of it. Ample provision has been made for football, cricket and other Splaying fields, tennis courts, bowling greens, croquet lawns, a parking area for motor-cars, a bandstand, aquarium, tea kiosk and a playing field containing a model yacht pond for children. All these are in addition to the area which would be occupied by the A. and P. Association. It is expected that c good revenue would be obtained from these playing fields, though othsources of revenue have been considered. AUCKLAND’S FRONT DOOR At present Hobson Bay, at lowwater, is an eyesore and spoils the beauty of the City at that point. Anc inland's front door should be attractive, and the residents of the areas su--rounding Hobson Bay do not wish it lo become a distasteful commercial ar*»... Certain proposals were made by tka Harbour Board, which controls the bay, to the City Council, but these were refused by the council. The Harbour Board desired that before March 31 details of the construction work, with engineering data and costs, the period required for completion of the work and the annual programme, the arrangements for financing the scheme and the purposes for which the area was to be used and conditions of tenure should be laid before it. The board also requested that work be started before March 31. 1933: that the taking of filling should be subject to the board's approval: that the board and Its interests be exempted from payment of rates anil that the rights of all riparian owne.-s be extinguished free of cost to the board. FAVOURABLE CONSIDERATION After these and other conditions had bee* refused by the Ciry Council. Sir. L. P. Leary and Mr. E. M. Ormlßton called on the chairman of the Harbour Board and later received a reply that the board-in-committee decided that it would favourably consider the suggestion made that as soon as the full work of reclamation and protection was completed by the City Council the southern or landward halt of the area asked for would be granted in fee simple to the council, the balance to be held on lease in accordance with the present proposals of the board. With this offer in view the Hobton Bay Commi:tee. together with rejresentative and leading citizens from all parts of Auckland, will wait on he City Council Parks Committee this afternoon to urge its claims. It is estimated that the dredging would occupy about IS months ind that the area would be ready for occupation within two or three years.