BEACH BOULDERS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 197, 17 February 1912, Page 2

BEACH BOULDERS

SHOULD TEEY BE REMOVED?

Opinions differed at yesterday's meeting of the New Plymouth Harbor Board as to whether the countless boulders which stud the local foreshore form a natural protection against the sea. The question was broached upon the Borough Council asking for permission to remove boulders from the beach near the Waiwakaiho river for the purpose of crushing the same for road metalling. The Council was prepared, the letter noted, to pay a reasonable royalty on all stone removed.

In advancing the theory that on certain parts of the coastal line the accumulation of boulders formed a natural bulwark, Mr. Maxwell remarked that there was evidence of steady encroachment on the part of the sea on various portions of the coast. Quite the opposite view was held by Mr. Hughes, who said that to refuse the Borough Council's application, was a "dog in the manger" policy. The stones, he added, were always "coming in" on the beach and subsequently "going out" again.

According to the chairman (Mr. Connett) once the Council was permitted to remove stone from the beach near the Waiwakaiho river theie was no telling where it would stop. Stone would be taken from places anywhere along the foreshore. . TRUST THE COUNCIL! This led Mr. King to point out that if the Board could not trust the Borough Council, which with itself formed two of the most important public bodies in the district, it was "pretty rough."

The chairman: "We can trust the borough, but not the contractors," to which Mr. King replied: "If you will tipust the borough, it will be liable."

Mr. Maxwell -returned to the discussion with an assertion that the fact of the presence of the "bare boulders was in itself an indication of encroachment having taken place. Further, he reminded members that the question had time and again been before the Board, which had always set its face against the removal of the boulders. Traversing the previous speaker's statement, Mr. Swadling stated that the boulders were brought down by rivers from up-country, from Mt. Egmont, for instance. Some fine point of order cropping up, the discussion was adjourned until next meeting in order to allow Mr. Swadling to give the necessary notice of motion giving effect to the Council's request.