Ministry of Transport Files - Colville Bay

These files from the Ministry of Transport deal mainly with the administrative aspects of structures, reclamations, power, telephone, and pipeline crossings of waterways around the marine foreshore and in navigable rivers and lakes. There is not a lot of environmental information in these files but occasionally there is a copy of a report that deals with the environmental aspects of a structure. In about 1964 the Ministry of Transport (MOT) took over the role of licensing structures on the foreshore from the Marine Department (MD) and employed the Ministry of Works and Development (MWD) as its environmental advisers. Reports from the MWD therefore contain much of the environmental information available in these files. A further summary of the content of these files is included in "additional comments" below. Purpose: This dataset provides a brief discussion of coastal information contained within historical Ministry of Transport files, collected during a review commissioned by Environment Waikato as part of the Coastal Database project. The Ministry of Transport (MoT) was responsible for the administration of structures in the CMA and in navigable rivers and lakes from 1964 to 1997. These files are now held in Environment Waikato’s archives. These files contain useful information on the history and legal status of existing coastal structures.

54/2/122: Colville Bay boundary fence. Fence extended over tidal water to prevent stock getting off the farm. Indicates that grazing was going on right to the waters edge. Fence was approved 1958. 54/14/7/44 Sand and shingle Falcon Bay 1975. File covers sand mining issues and disputes between Mr J. Goudie and local bach owners. Mr Goudie was a farmer using beach material for farm tracks. A licence was issued for 100 m3 per year, with a limit of 20 m3 per month. Photographs are referred to but are not in the file. There are a series of complaints by a local bach owner that the volumes permitted by the license were being exceeded and damage was occurring to fences in accessing the site. Bach owned put up chains to stop access and Goudie cut them down. MWD inspected the site April 1976 and recommended closing the beach for the rest of the year as the beach in a dangerous state with large holes in it. Comment was also made that the licenced volumes may have been exceeded. More photographs are referred to that are not in the file. No royalties were being paid for the sand. Mr Goudie refuted taking more than the licenced amount and claimed that the family had a long history of shingle removal from the beach. Mr Goudie believed that the condition of the beach was significantly better than 15 years previous (3 black and white photographs held by Environment Waikato). TCDC file 10.5.7. Goudie was taking material from two sites though there is little or no detail about the second known as Silds Point. A survey in September 1976 shown that there were either a number of people taking shingle from the beach or that Goudie was taking an excessive amount of material. MWD report suggests that the license be revoked for a year. Goudie moved operation the Big Bay still in the Colville Harbour area. This was a similar site to Falcon Bay with a shingle spit to mine. TCDC file G1/-/5.By 1980 TCDC were blaming erosion below the road on excessive shingle removal. MOT inspected in 1980 took 7 photographs of the area (not scanned). Site was closed in 1981. 54/14/7/34 Sand and shingle Colville harbour 1972. This is file covering an earlier licence application for 250 m3 shingle extraction by Mr Goudie at Falcon Bay. 54/14/7/28 Sand and shingle Waitete Bay 1969. This file covers an application by N. Whitehouse to renew an existing sand and shingle removal license. The amount at the time was 10 yd3 per year. By 1972, complaints were made that removal was causing erosion. Files 47/16, 16/10/72. MWD inspected the beach and found it in good condition. The report does note that there was shingle to about the half tide level, then bedrock. This suggests the beach was a small pocket of shingle sitting on a shore platform and that the deposit is not very large. 54/14/7/50 Sand and shingle Waiaro Beach 1976. This beach was a source of shingle for Auckland. It was a popular landing place by scow owners. The file had no data on it just a request for shingle and no further correspondence. This beach is one of those inspected by Abbot 1919 and Rabone 1950 and described as a valuable source of aggregate. 54/14/7/13 Sand and shingle Papa Aroha 1967. Application to remove 20 yd3 from the creek. Nothing else in file. 54/14/7/6 Sand and shingle Papa Aroha Beach 1960. Some time before 1960 the Coromandel beaches had been closed to mining, presumably by scows from Auckland. The beach closures may have been in response to the Rabone report (1950). In 1960 a local carrier was taking from above the high water mark at the stream mouth on council land. In the early 1960s very small amounts of material were requested. By 1963 requests were up to 500 yd3 from above high water. A local land owner was concerned that extraction could lead to erosion of the beach. In November 1963 Coromandel County wanted 6,000 yd3 for road metal, to be taken from the stream channel which was part of the road reserve and also the beach. This request prompted a letter from MOT to the Resident Engineer Paeroa. This letter stated that there are extensive records about this beach and that large volumes of material had been removed from the beach in the past to the detriment of the beach and the adjacent property. This history is reiterated in a letter by Mr McColl, land owner who states there used to be a shingle barrier at the mouth of the Papa Aroha Stream which was capable of sheltering a number of launches during rough weather. McColl points out that in the past scows had made a hole in the beach and that in one SW storm 18 chains of 7 wire fence was swept away and the coast retreated up to 1.5 chains. (30 m). The Resident Engineer thought that McColl’s statements were exaggerated. Lack of shingle was due to the very low flows, no freshes to wash shingle down stream and no SW waves to move more material into the area. Between 1964 and 1966 the southern part of the beach had retreated nearly 10 m in places. The engineer noted that the spit at the mouth of the stream appeared to control the stability of the beach to the south. When the spit is removed the spit erodes to replace material lost from the spit. By 1969 it was estimated that 500–800 yd3 could be removed from the stream but it would have to be in small lots to allow recovery. Mining applications after 1970 appear to concentrate of the stream channel and leave the beach alone. The latter part of this file deals with applications for sand removal from Goat Bay, Melsops Crossing, Okahutaki, and Whangaraho. There is little environmental information about these sites in this file. 54/14/7/6 Sand and shingle Papa Aroha 1976–78. Shingle requested: Goat Bay 800 m3/yr, Sandy Bay 200 m3/yr, Melsops Crossing 1,500 m3/yr, and Papa Aroha 1,200 m3/yr. All applications were by TCDC. Paeroa Residency did the inspection 1975 file 7/2. The report indicated that the beaches were in reasonable condition. Reference photographs were taken at each site but these are not included in this file. (Probably of MWD file 7/2). The file includes a brief discussion of possible sources of material for Papa Aroha beach, based on logic not measurement. Probable sources are from the stream, alongshore and off the sea bed. There is no information about the material on the sea bed in the file to date. Report noted some concerns about Papa Aroha and restricted the amount to be taken to 1,000 m3/yr. Another concern was that licenced volumes were not being adhered to. All sites were closed in 1978 with the exception of Sandy Bay where some sand could be removed from the stream bed before it got to the coast. 54/2/610 Jetty and slipway Amodeo Bay 1973. This file contains an application for a boat ramp, weir in the Tawhetarangi Stream, and sewage discharge for a motel development. The file contains a set of winter black and white photographs. The boat ramp was located in the stream just below the road, very close to roadside. The application planned to discharge sewage below low water level. There are two volumes of this file but they are not labelled 1 And 2. Both commence in 1973. 54/3/1017 Sewer line and boat ramp Amodeo Bay. See 54/2/610 above. The County to look after the boat ramp while the motel owner had to look after the sewer outfall once the two structures were separated. TCDC file V8/6. 54/19/45 Foreshores Bridges Waiaro. No environmental information. 54/2/310 Wharf Ihuwaiti Moehau. License issued 1953 to W. Parkinson and Co. Auckland. Site also known as Moehau granite quarry. Wharf was located at the southern end of Paritu Bay. New wharf (1953) at the mouth of the Ihuwaiti Stream. File nos. M4/4149, MOT 13/99 MWD Paeroa 7/1. Parkinson and Co. were monumental masons taken over by Firth Industries Natural stone division. 54/17/8: Roads Coromandel Peninsula, volume 1 1930. 1960: stream crossing applications for the Waitete Stream and Kouatunu Stream at Amodeo Bay. 1964: Bridge crossing the Ngakuku Stream, Colville Bay. The file does not specify if this is a new crossing or replacement bridge.

Colville Bay and adjacent Coast. West coast northern Coromandel Peninsula.

1950’s to 1984

Frequency of collection: Infrequent

Many files and pieces of information from the files are missing. Many engineer's reports are missing from the files held by Environment Waikato. Completeness: Only includes information available on specific files. Important to note that Ministry of Works files contain further environmental information relating to these files.

Physical files

Historical information on previous conditions at these locations.

Publicly available in EW archives. Sensitivity/Confidentiality: No confidentiality – public information.

Files closed. Include a note where this record continues after end date of file where possible – e.g. Dept of Conservation files. These files have been continued where appropriate but have been amalgamated and given a new file number by DOC making sourcing more recent information difficult.

Additional comments: Sand and Shingle Mining. The winning of aggregate from the foreshore is noticeable as an early occupation of coastal freighters, particularly scows. Beach sediments did not need crushing for the most part and were therefore in high demand as cheap roading material, especially for the growing Auckland market. Where shingle was not readily available, shell material was used for a road surfacing material. Most of the files stored at Environment Waikato start in the 1960s or later and refer to earlier files about the same beaches. Therefore in Archives in either Auckland or Wellington there are probably earlier files outlining activities prior to 1960. There is also a reference to a previous ban on sand mining along the west coast of the Coromandel prior to 1960. This may refer to changes that were enacted after the Rabone Report of 1950. The sand mining applications also highlight the importance of coastal traffic right up to the 1960s and 1970s. Fertiliser was shipped to Whitianga wharf from Auckland and Tauranga and scows took a back load of sand from Whangapoua Harbour entrance to Auckland to lower their costs. Mining licences were also pursued at other beaches such as Otama so that scows could load under differing wind and wave conditions. Marine Farming The Marine Farming Act was passed in 1971 but it was only towards the end of the 1970s that marine farming began to be developed in the area around Coromandel Harbour. Early applications were met with strong resistance by Auckland boat users who thought that marine farms would interfere with their recreation along the Coromandel west coast, especially within Coromandel Harbour. As the development of marine farms became accepted there were fewer objections and the industry became well established. The Thames Coromandel District Council (TCDC) commissioned a study to determine sites suitable for marine farming. This report also indicated where marine farming should not take place and became the main planning document for further coastal development. Related information: All these files are related to Ministry of Works and Development files as the MWD was the adviser to MOT.