Ministry of Transport Files - Tairua and Pauanui

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. 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.

54/11/210: Tairua Sewerage scheme. No environmental information. 54/11/198: Tairua sewage pipeline. No environmental information. 54/11/183: Pauanui water supply Tairua Harbour 1983. Pipeline from Oturu Stream behind works yards to Pauanui, under the estuary. N. Needham questions the need for this work. No environmental information. 54/14/7/11: Sand and shingle Tairua Harbour 1967. MWD wanted to take 5,000 yd3 from Pepe estuary upstream of the bridge for road works. Took 4,000 yd3 1969 and 1971. Took 1,100 yd3 1972. 54/14/59: Control of foreshores, Tairua Harbour 1965. File contains: Report on the harbour (estuary) of the Tairua River. Hauraki Catchment Board 1977. This is a description of the harbour as it was in 1977 and a discussion of future development of facilities and problems (e.g. pollution). 54/15/50: Removal of material, Tairua 1925.The 1925 file starts with a letter stating that scows had been taking sand of the end of Pauanui Spit for the past 12 months (roughly where the jetty is today). This was thought to have caused extensive channel changes. The Marine Department closed the beach and the estuary to mining. 1926 - JJ Craig and Winstones got approval from R. H. Sheppard (a landowner) to remove material from Pauanui from above high water. They then sought to get permission to remove material from below high tide in the estuary. Note; a crown reserve existed between Sheppard’s boundary and the high water mark. Thus the land where the sand was to be taken from was not actually his land. The Wellington Marine Department gave permission to remove material from the main channel, but not from Pauanui Spit. Winstones estimated that they would take between 300 and 500 yds3 per month depending on how well the grab worked. This was at the time of the introduction of mechanical equipment on scows to obtain aggregate. Until now all removal had been by hand. The permit was held up until the quality of the material was determined. The next correspondence was in 1954. There is no information how the 1926 operation worked out or if there was any damage reported. In 1954 There is a query as to if a license had ever been issued for shell extraction in Tairua. Note it is known that Cory-Wright took shell for road material and for fertiliser but this extraction is not mentioned in this file. In 1971 there was approval for the removal of 1,500 yds3 or more if required. The period that this took place is not recorded. 54/16/256: Reclamation Tairua Harbour R. W and D. P. Turner 1976. The proposal was to take a portion of the Pepe estuary on the town side just upstream of the bridge to get enough room to put up a motel and still have a Crown reserve between the motel and the estuary. First plan withdrawn after opposition in 1978. New plan produced in 1978. MWD Paeroa 7/27, Hamilton 96/123,000 and 96/124,000.Environmental Impact Assessment by Murray North Partners, March 1978. Nothing of historical interest in the file. Volume2: No environmental information. Volume 3 No environmental information. Reclamation approved in 1980. However the Turners had not gone through all the right stages and had cut out the local objectors who wrote to the Minister and finally got the Ombudsman involved. Ombudsman’s report blamed MoT for recommending an activity that was against MoT’s own policy and forced the approval to be withdrawn by an order in council signed by the Governor General. Volume 4. Order in council withdrawn and Turners asked to resubmit their plans. They withdrew the application 1982. 54/16/256: Reclamation Tairua Boat Club 1977. The boat club proposed to reclaim part of the harbour shown on an earlier plan that had eroded where the slabs had been deposited from the saw mill. This land is just in front of the toilet block between the Pepe inlet and the wharf. This was part of the same area proposed to be reclaimed by the Thames County Council in an earlier file. Hauraki Catchment Board stopped the development as they considered the location not good for the estuary. 54/16/72: Reclamation Tairua Harbour Thames County Council 1968. This file also covers information about the reclamation in the Oturu stream between SH 25 and the hills, to form an industrial area to the south of Tairua Township. This is where the Ministry of Works and District Council yards are. Second part of the file covers an application for a private boatshed near the wharf. Application dropped 1955. Also in this file, a proposal to mine sand from Tairua Harbour MoT file 54/3/414. There is a Xeroxed copy of 54/16/72 in this box. 54/17/8: Roads Coromandel Peninsula, volume 1 1930. 1957, Development of the road around Pepe estuary, Tairua.1962, The Causeway at Tairua Harbour. The proposed plan was to place 2 36 inch (0.9m) culverts on Grahams Creek. This suggests that Cory Wright’s causeway bridge may never have been completed or that the bridge collapsed at some time earlier. The Resident Engineers report suggested that the county takes a harder look at the size of waterway needed. The bridge on SH 25 had a water way of 240 square feet and is designed to take 288 cusecs flow. The report noted that the water depth in the estuary upstream of the existing causeway was only 15 to 18 inches at high tide. 54/24/86/5: Cables Tairua Harbour north 1966. MWD file 96/124000. No details. 54/24/86/33: Cables Tairua Harbour, Volume 1 1970. MWD file 7/27. A 1970 note saying there had been steady siltation in Tairua harbour over the last few years. Telephone cable crossed from Wharf Road, laid in 1971. Plans probably in Post Office engineering files field survey on field book 303. 1975 consideration given to laying a second cable. 54/26/14: Wildlife refuge Tairua Harbour 1974. Refuge was to be between the estuary and SH 25 by the Oturu Stream. Outcome not known. Undated aerial photograph on file. 54/27/94: Cables crossing Tairua Harbour 1975. Installation of an 11 KV cable to link Tairua and Pauanui. MWD Paeroa file no. 7/27. 54/27/172: Submarine cable Tairua Harbour 1979. Refer 57/24/94. 54/27/276:Power line crossing Tairua River 1986. This site was at the limit of navigation for launches when Kauri logging was occurring. 54/27/234: Submarine telephone cable Tairua Harbour 1984. Nothing further about crossing. 54/27/211:Power line crossing Tairua Harbour 1982. Original power line was installed in 1969 but was washed out and replaced in 1984. 54/1470/2: Foreshores, Pauanui Ocean Beach Resort –Improvements Tairua Harbour 1976. Heavy storm conditions 10 August 1976 closed road and flooded access. Pauanui residents wanted the removal of seagrass from the harbour on the landward side of the spit and the beach reclaimed to protect the trees backing the eroding foreshore. Sent MoT a petition. Map of sedimentation taken from aerial photographs 1944, 1966, 1971 and 1975. Part of the consulting engineers report, 19 May 1977 included on file. Record of an earlier report dated 6 May 1977. Report describes the sedimentation as filling the harbour from the upper harbour seawards, thus diminishing the tidal prism and reducing river flows to a single narrow channel. The report predicts increased flooding from reduced buffer effect of the estuary. File includes plan of Pauanui from Pleasant Point south showing the proposed new coastline along the line of the coast as it was in 1899. This plan also shows where the sandbanks were. Hauraki Catchment Board Members inspected the site. A report by Harris the Chief Engineer summarises all the proposed and built reclamations and structures up to 1977. Notes signs of pollution between the wharf and Paku probably from septic tanks. This is a valuable summary of the situation as it was in 1977. HBCB file 2/3/121 000–124 000. MWD (Paeroa) 7/27 MOT 54/3/414. Ombudsman’s office became involved and MoT had to provide a history of events. This history gives a very good summary of events from 1976 to 1980, There is also a discussion on the definition of reclamation versus replenishment. A most enlightening file about developers and environmental watchdogs. 54/1/42: Tairua Wharf. History of the wharf adjacent to the hotel is outlined up to its replacement in October 1963. The wharf was first built by Union Steam, Saw Sash and Door Company in April 1878. Control of Tairua Harbour was vested in Thames County Council October 1965. February 1968 there is a letter asking permission to reclaim crown land between the wharf and Pepe inlet that had been eroded over the years. Proposal was to use material left over from road construction to reclaim the land previously lost. Licence for Tairua wharf given by an order in Council in November 1930. This required council to remove and dispose of ballast from incoming shipping in a suitable manner. Location not specified. Consolidated Silver and Mining Co. NZ, applied for a mineral prospecting licence 21 May 1970 (other file 54/29/28). 54/1/82: Tairua Harbour Paku Estates Jetty. Nothing of interest. 54/1/557: Tairua Boat Club, club house reclamation. Nothing of interest. 54/1/337: Thames County Council Boat Grid. Request to build a boat grid for vessel inspections and wash downs on north side of Tairua wharf and boat ramp. 54/1/440:Tairua Tide Gauge. Nothing useful. 54/1/701: Tairua Jetty, Paku. Set of photographs of the wharf and the beach each side 1985. It was being proposed then that the present wharf was interfering with sediment movement. Idea was presented to change wharf to a floating T structure and remove present structure. TCDC file V5/101. 54/1/700: Pontoon extension Tairua Wharf and mooring piles. Idea of pontoons on the downstream side of the wharf was to provide easy access to boats and the ferry at all stages of the tide. The mooring piles were intended to provide anchorage points along the channel and help keep the wharf clear for boat traffic to use. 54/1/699: Proposed Jetty Royal Billy Point Pauanui. January 1982 TCDC recommended the construction of an all tide pedestrian traffic wharf be built at Royal Billy Point as there was no wharf on this side of the estuary. Through 1982-3 many local objections based on lack of publicity and poor understanding of how the estuary functioned. Only public information was a short newspaper clip. TCDC claimed the local community had asked for the wharf but it seems that those responsible in the community had gone into recess at the time. Large boat owners blamed for the suggestion. TCDC improved public consultation and clarified that the Tairua Harbour committee, the Tairua Community Council and the Pauanui liason Committee had all requested wharves and piles to accommodate the growing number of people using the estuary. 1981-2 TCDC developed various proposals. Discussed with Hauraki C.B. and MWD. Finally built in 1984.The file continues with discussing Pauanui wharf, pollution and sedimentation problems in the harbour. Apparently there was a deep channel running along the front of Manaia Road which infilled with mud and sea grass in the early 1980s. It was noted that dredging was needed but there is no information where this was done. File contains a drawing and aerial photograph of Pauanui wharf area. File closes Sept 1984. 54/1/663: Tairua Harbour mooring piles and wharf pontoons. Opened 1982. TCDC note that there has been a planning commitment for Tairua Harbour since 1978 (Need to find document). Discusses the mooring piles and gives coordinates for the 2 inch pipe on wharf and piles 1,6 and 11 in harbour. 54/2/737: Tairua harbour dredging and groynes. In 1976, Pauanui residents petitioned MoT for removal of sea grass and replenishment of the beach and the construction of groynes south of Pleasant point. The same residents also wanted protection of the trees. Hopper developments proposed to do the work at their expense. MWD had doubts about the effects of construction, stating boat wakes were the main cause of the erosion. R. W. Harris 1977 report on Harbour and estuary Tairua River recommended no further reclamation in Harbour. EW library has a copy. Some judicious dredging at the boat ramp proposed to the south of Pleasant point together with a dredged channel suggested by Hopper. The position of the proposed boat ramp had to be changed because of the buried telephone cable located at the original site. Proposed development opposed by Tairua residents. Hauraki Herald has an article on the development which notes reclamation back to a coastline of 1895 as shown of Plan No 819 of March 1977. This file is entirely about the pleasant point coastline development that was to go in conjunction with the land development behind the beach. It appears that the authorisation by MoT was applied rather liberally. 54/4/74: Oxidation Pond Pauanui. Tairua Harbour. Volume 1. 1975. Set of oblique photographs of Tairua harbour taken February 1976 showing Tairua Harbour, Pauanui beach and the area where the oxidation ponds were planned to go. TCDC file T.15. Report: Airey, D. C. and Birch, W. F. 1975 Thames County Council. Tairua, Pauanui waste water scheme, environmental impact assessment. This report contains a biological assessment of the effects of the planned ponds, carried out by Bioresearches Ltd. Two reports were prepared by Bioresearches (1975 and 1976). The later report is favourable to the development, but is not entirely consistent with the earlier report. TCDC letter of 29 June 1979 file Q2/102 and K8/10/2 lists history of subdivisions etc. in Tairua estuary and on Pauanui Spit. There are 18 colour photographs showing the construction of the sewer pipe across the estuary taken by N. Needham. Volume 2 starts September 1979. Report Fenton K. C. 1979: Environmental impact assessment of proposed reclamation of part of the Tairua estuary for oxidation pond sites. This is a report to TCDC by their engineer. Bioresearches also wrote an environmental assessment for the alternative sites in Tairua and Pauanui in 1979. Report contains reasonably detailed information about the ecology of the estuary, though there are no maps of the various ecological zones presented. Agriculture and Fisheries report 1979, Tairua Harbour is on this file but not in EW Library. Lands and Survey file 8/5/249. There are a set of plans showing the sea floor off the end of the airport and the layout of depth of disturbance poles placed of the seabed. This data was needed to find out the necessary depth that the sewer pipe would need to be buried and the height of the diffuser to ensure it would work in all conditions. Presumably the details of the changes over the two years of observation are located on another file as they are not recorded in this file. 54/4/415: Reclamation Tairua harbour Pepe estuary 1976. Plan to reclaim part of the Pepe estuary for a Motel development. MWD file 96/123,000 and 96/124,000 (river files), Lands and Survey3/2898, 8/5/249. Reclamation turned after hearing. No environmental information contained on this file. Probably need hearing file. 54/4/404: Tairua Sewage pond and pipelines 1975 Nothing new - refer 54/4/74. 54/4/243: Reclamation Tairua Harbour 1970. Area around the present site of the road works depot on west side of SH25. No environmental information. 54/4/168: Reclamation Tairua Harbour 1968. No environmental information. 54/11/154: Sewer Pipe Tairua 1977. Pipe across Graham’s Creek. No environmental information. 54/14/7/53: Sand and shingle Pauanui Ocean Beach 1976. Developers put in a one-off application to take 1,000 m3 of sand off Ocean Beach, Pauanui, They proposed to replace this material with sand from the dunes where they were developing. Application was declined because of the unknowns. 54/30/1: Erosion Auckland Administration District Policy, Volume 2 1985. The earlier file commenced 1969. The whole file is devoted to the coastal hazard at Pauanui and the possibility of rising sea levels. A typescript of Gibb and Auburn’s report on Pauanui hazard lines is included. The Hauraki Catchment Board revised flood level estimates within the estuary as part of the possible effects of rising sea levels. 54/1/636: Boat Ramp Royal Billy Point Pauanui. File starts 1979. First ramp 1969 1974 extension approved TCDC file V8 by council but not by MOT - belatedly approved.

Tairua Harbour, and Tairua and Pauanui Ocean beaches.

1960 to 1984 with notes from earlier Marine Department files.

Infrequent/irregular

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

Physical files Some files available as .pdf on request.

Historical background to what has been done in the estuary.

Freely available in EW archives Not confidential, 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: By-law Development and the County Councils Control of the foreshore, lakeshore and riverbeds was vested in the Marine Department (MD) and then later in the Ministry of Transport (MOT). As roads improved access to the coast and lakes increased and the MOT vested its powers in the local County Councils to enable them to create by laws to control the use of these areas while the MOT retained overall control and was responsible for vetting any proposed by law. Jetties and Wharves There were two types of jetties and wharves; those built for catching Whitebait, and the fishing boat jetty. As the local fishing industry developed, there was a steady increase in requests for licenses for jetties to load and unload fishing boats. Records in the files indicate that there was either a shortage of hardwood for jetty piles or the locals preferred to rely on piles made from Manuka or Kanuka. This is especially noticeable of the piles used for fishing boat jetties. As the fishing fleet grew so did the demand for fish processing facilities on shore. The increased number of requests for jetties for commercial fishing probably reflects the increased government investment in the fishing industry in the 1960s and 1970s. Boat sheds Boat sheds that housed a launch or dinghy between uses were common up to the 1960s. In the 1970s and onwards there are few requests to license a boatshed. This is probably because of the increased use of light materials for boat construction such as fibreglass and aluminium and the development of the boat and trailer combination. Thus boaties did not have a boat at one location but were mobile and could go to a variety of destinations both fresh and salt water. This added mobility probably also reflects better roading and better vehicles. Boat ramps These appear associated with two activities. Commercial fishing or the storage of a boat used occasionally. As roads improved and boat-building materials became lighter the trailed boat became more popular. This in turn put pressure on local County Councils to either build boat ramps or license boat ramps to be built by for fishing or Boat clubs to access the water. After a burst of activity in the 1960s and 1970s many clubs were wound up leaving the structure the responsibility of the local Council. Slipways Slipway installation commenced from the earliest of settlements because most of the early communities were serviced by boat and needed repair and maintenance facilities locally. There were also some slipways constructed by local boating and sailing clubs. Boat Clubs. There seems to have been an upsurge of boat clubs in the late 1960s early 1970s but by the end of the decade wanted to transfer their ramp assets to the local county. Falling membership could not sustain the costs of licenses and maintenance for buildings and ramps. Bridge Construction The notification of many new bridges built on the roads of the Coromandel indicates the slow but steady improvement of roading on the Coromandel Peninsula. There are a series of files that examine bridges as they might affect a waterway for navigation. This demonstrates the importance placed on sea compared to road transport. The second aspect of the bridge construction is the development of better roads and therefore the less importance of the coastal trade to the development of the country. Note that up to the 1970s, fertiliser was barged to Whitianga but after that time it was more common to truck the material in. 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. Related information: All these files are related to Ministry of Works and Development files as the MWD was the adviser to MOT.