FEATHERSTON NOTES,

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 767, 16 March 1910, Page 8

FEATHERSTON NOTES,

| _'At the-last meeting of -the Featherston County Council the repairing of the Waihenga Bridge across the Ruamahunga Rrver, .'near Martinborough, was dis- | cussed. It is recognised that, before many years ..-have elapsed,' an .expenditure of some thousands of pounds will'be necessary to build :a new bridge. The present structure has done duty for - forty years now, and, when it was repaired- some ten years ago, the; Government .engineer stated in his report chat it was good for about five -years. The bridge is still standing, and .is probably carrying heavier loads than ever. When 'a heavy iTuok of wool goes across, the top 9 of the bridge take a lean inwards, and one of the V booms underneath has craoked. iOverseer Davis was instructed to immediately repair the boom, and to thoroughly examine the bridge and draw up a report on it.' The Department of Roads and Bridges was approaohed to-see if they woulo send an engineer to report, on it, but replied that-no engineer was available. The general'idea is .that tlie bridge should be made /a combination railway and traffic, bridge, in .view of the probable construction of a line from-.Featherston to Martinborough. • The • Featherston Tennis Club recently visited: Martinborough, and-- suffered; defeat by 14 games.; to 8. -The Martinborough ladies supplied afternoon tea, and '_ entertained both teams in a very hospitable manner. ' ' On Monday afternoon Mr. A:'Crawford, a trainer at Tauherinikan .was .in- Featherston .with a brake -and. pair. The horses were left standing in the weather for some time and got cold. When theywere wanted to. move on they refused to do so, and started,to make'tronble. ,'One •made a .plunge forward. and broke its collar, pulling Mr.;,Crawford!out of-the, seat;.and under the front wheel! ' The wheel _ passed; across his ..chest,. fracturing, two ribs and bruising him, severely. He was taken ; to his home at Tauherinikau by .'Mr. P. F. Thompson., Mr. H. Ayre, 'residing. in upper Fox Street, met with, an unpleasant accident on Monday evening. : He had. just moved into a new house, and was working on some steps' wh?n he overbalanced, striking, the-conier. of a table as he fell. Dr. Palmer was called in, and it was found that he had fractured'a rib.