A BRIDGE OF SIGES.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1924, 5 December 1913, Page 9

A BRIDGE OF SIGES.

0 . THAT LEADS TO NOWHERE. PAH A RLE OF THAT WHICH IS NOT. Once upon a lime there was a crazy old wooden bridge- spanning a river not far lrom its mouth—a bridge so narrow and so frail that it would shake when trodden by a heavy farmer, and even tremble at Iho approach of a jockey boy from iho adjacent training stables. And when tile fierce winter ranis descended, anil thi) kine wore up to their knees in the squa-sh.v loam, the waters of the river rose high and roared down upon the tremblingstructure, threatening it' peiiodicaily with dcuructioii. As it was a- very old and exceedingly decrepit bridge, the. Hood waters could have had it for the asking, but, for one thing—that underneath the floor of the bridge ran a large iron pipe, which convoyed' the water of the Wainui across the river on its way to the city. It was, iu a way, the life-blood of a city —and yet it depended' lor support on a frail structure that became weaker and weaker as the seasons crept by. Then one fine day a bold man said that the bridge was not as it should bo, and had long since lost faith in its capacity to stand a strain, and that tko city would be well advised to build anew. When the little boroughs round about the bridge heard of the. proposal they wore, most exceedingly glad, and said unto one another —"Would it not bo a great and good thing if the new bridge were made'big and strong enough to take the traffic?" And they all agreed that it would indeed bo a great and good thing. So the city and suburban boroughs came together, and decided that a goodly bridge. should bo erected —one that would carry the pines securely, and would servo as a solid highway across the moving waters of the Hutt. And it came to pass that the bridge was erected, each one paying so many bags of silver toward tlio cost thereof. A great and noble struchtro was thrown across the brawling waters and the district rejoiced' exceedingly. Since then two years have, gone by, and it is but rarely that- th-o hoof-beats of horses or the swish of the motor is heard-in the land adjacent thereto, of on the bridge i which brings the lands together. This because on 'the eastern side, of the bridge there js no road. r ;J 4 * *

And that is the story of the Hirtt Pipe Bridge. A length of highway, computed "to cost about £900, would when made .join the, bridge with the Grawliek! Estate, and the owners of that estate are under contract with the civic authorities to build tlio road through _ their own property to a point that junctions with the Loivry Liny Road. During the. r.oursc of nn interview yesterday', tho Mayor (Mr. J. P. Lukoj stated that there was still a dead lock over tlio matter—a deadlock which had now lasted twelve months, it was useless to expect anything more from the Hutt iinrougk Council, which would really benefit more than any other body in the increased values and rates that would follow settlement in that section of tise borough. That body considered that they had paid up finally when the last payment was made. "Tlio way I look ujion the matter of the cost of this bit of road," said Mr. Luke, "is for the City to pay 50 per cent, and the benefiting local bodies the other 50 per cent. Tim Peioiie Borouyh Council, which would benefit materially from the diversion of traffic, was not prepared to make any further advance. The City on the other hand was prepared to go on with the work immediately the bor. mighs concerned came to terms in a rea. sonable manner—it was even urepaml to make arrangements for tlio Hutt and J etcno Councils to pay the money back to the City in two or three annual pav moots. As far as the City was concerned the wliolo business, had been nict in a most liberal manner. Had n elected to do so it could have erected a "."!,,„, p! 'l' 0 J>" d & at, a cost of about AjoOdf) or £001)0, that would have served }«.<' Cily s purposes admirably, hut it Had worked m with the. boron<riis ad)!.rent to the bridge silo, with "the resiilt that it had paid about, £13,000 out <>; il'j.bOlj-tho cost of thfc bruh'e Hi is was done m order that a n m( \ arterial road could bo made from Potone to the eastern side of the Lower Hutt * alley and harbour—one which would ouo day carry tramway trallic. and won id in the meantime cam- ,iM the traffic of the district as well as tho pipes ol tho water system." "I think it very reijrottablr- that the roster of tho coijstrii'ntion of this road SiimiUl have been hun<i up for twelve months. I do not think that there is any likelihood of any denarture being made from the attitude of'the boroiurhs, but tho City cannot be looked upon as responsible for tho position. Tho City (lid not benefit directly from Ihe work iieiug completed, hut the Hutt and Potone bqcouidis did, so did also the. Hutt County Council and tho Eastbourne Borouirh Council, it is really for these bodies to make Hie next move. As a. final word I say that we are ready to go on with tlio work immediately some, equitable arrangement is made."'