PIPIROA BRIDGE

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 53, Issue 32412, 27 March 1944, Page 6

PIPIROA BRIDGE

SUPPORT FROM THE PLAINS FURTHER REPRESENTATIONS The support of the Hauraki Plains County Council to the proposal to replace the Pipiroa ferry with a bridge was expressed in a letter placed before the meeting of the council of the Thames ChamlMw of Commerce last evening from the County Clerk, Mr E. A. Mahoney. The chamber was advised that Mr I A. S. Sutherland. XI.P. for Hauraki, had been asked to join with Mr J. Thorn. M.P., for Thames, in placing representations to have the work expedited before the Minister of Public Works. The copy of the letter sent by Mr Mahoney to Mr Sutherland asking him to do this said the former had been informed by the Thames Chamber of Commerce that, the bridge had been scheduled for the fifth year of some five-year plan for post-war reconstruction. The council had been holding its quota of the cost for years, and was probably more anxious than any other bodv to see the construction of this fibridge started. Life Of Ferry Limited One factor perhaps not known either to the Government or outside bodies was that the life of the ferry .itself was limited and any replacement of the barge at present in use might not be possible these days, and if it were its cost would run to thousands of pounds. It might even mean there would be no ferry at all on the direct route between Auckland and the Coromandel Peninsula. The wastage and inconvenience to the travelling public could readily be imagined. “Personally, knowing all the, circumstances perhaps better than any other single person, and remembering the fact that this job has been swinging for the last 22 years, I consider it should be given consideration in the first year of the post-war plan,” wrote Mr Mahoney. “Public Works Department files will reveal that the ferry constructed 18 years ago was accepted as a temporary measure only.” ' Mr N. Jonassen said it was quite true the life of the ferry was very indefinite. It was only a steel pontoon and the effect of the erosion of the salt water on it was considerably more than it would be on a structure of wood. It was decided to send a copy of the letter to Mr . Thorn.