UNEXPECTED CHARGE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 8, Issue 13, 3 October 1944, Page 2

UNEXPECTED CHARGE

NEW WHIRINAKI BRIDGE £1000 RENTAL SUGGESTED Something of a bombshell was exploded at the September meeting of the Whakatane County Council last Tuesday when the District Engineer, P.W.D. Tauranga forwarded a statement with regard to the recently erected Bailey bridge at Galatea lor which it Avas suggested that the Army, which had made the bridge, available should be paid a hire rate of £1000 per annum. It was stated that the erection of a further structure at Te Wliaiti could be expedited if the Council agreed to a similar suggestion regarding the proposed structure. The chairman, Mr J. L. said that the Council at no time had agreed to pay anything other than the cost of transport. The P.W.D. had offered to loan the bridge to the Council at the time of the recent floods and all correspondence showed that the new structure was loaned definitely for a period of twelve months.. The Council resolved to advise the Department that when it had accepted the use of the Bailey bridge in, terms of the correspondence then received, it was definitely understood the bridge was on temporary loan. No mention at any time had been made of a higher rate and the Council had no intention of paying under that heading.