CORRESPONDENCE.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 6 March 1912, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE.

THE QUESTION OF THE .. BRIDGE.

TO THE EDITOR;

Sir, —Now that the^ long promised meeting in reference to the Bridge has eventuated, and the details of the various schemes have been explained and discussed I take it that the Town Board will now take a poll of the Helens ville ratepayers in reference to the matter at as early a date as possible.

I am very doubtful however, as to whether a , great" number of those concerned have really laid holdof the importance of some of the details wrapped up in the different schemes. For instance, there seems to be a great objection with some as to the cost of making the new road entailed in putting the bridge in a different place. Now in this respect, it is admitted even by Mr Jas. McLeod, that the present bridge was not wide enough, and that even if a new bridge goes on the present site, it must be wider than the present structure. Very well, but what about the road, particularly between the mill site and the bridge ? Everyone who uses the road at all knows perfectly well that that road is at present absolutely dangerous, and that if it is to remain the main road for the traffic in and out of Helensville, the fact of the bridge being made wider will not alter the dangerous character of the road one iota, therefore a new bridge on the present site means to the Town Board of Helensville widening the road to its full width, and also the formation of a footpath. At the present time any person walking along that road at night is liable at any minute to get run down with horsemen, not to mention the fact that some folk are quite in the habit of driving gigs in and out without a light.

Therefore whether the bridge is erected on a new site or not, monies have got to be spent on the road in one place or the other.

Other people again object to the bridge site being altered, because it will damage the top end of the township from a business point of view. The people from the Flats, they say, will come in and out of Helensville and never see the top end of the town at all —now of all the arguments pro and con in reference to the site of the bridge, this particular one strikes me as being the most nonsensical one of the lot. And I'll prove it as such by giving a concrete example. — First of all then my contention is that any person coming into Helensville from the Flats to do business knows perfectly well when he or she leaves homes, exactly where they are going to do that business, and the mere fact that they get into the township by the Post Office or at Main's Corner, won't make one ]^d worth of difference. And now to prove it. Every man in Helensville who has been here any length of time, and who is in the habit of going out of an evening occasionally, knows perfectly well that a certain hotel is patronised by a certain large number of people. Wherever else they may go of an evening, they are sure to look in there before going home, and they come from all parts of the township, and if they happened to live on the other side of the river (as some of them do), you might put up bridges from Pipitiwai right up to the mill site and block them all up except the bottom one and they would find their way up just the same. This is the more extraordinary, seeing the efforts that have been made in certain quarters to drive these people in any other direction but that one. Therefore I say the argument obout the new site for a bridge affecting one end of the town more than another from a business point of view is ROT. Coming back to the ratepayers of Helensville, it is most important that they should understand how necessary it is for Helensville as a township, to have a predominating control of the bridge, no matter what site it is on. If there were no Hot Springs, or if the Hot Springs as a proposition were vested in the Waitemata County Council instead of the Helensville 'Domain Board, then it would be a different matter entirely. But seeing that they are vested in the Helensvijle. Domain Board, and that the development of these Springs is thus practically vested in the people of Helensville I maintain that the successful management of these baths entails as a matter of course, the control of the ways and means of getting in and out to them, by the body in whom they are vested, This is why I differ from Mr Jas, McLeod in the matter as t@ who should have the predominating control of the bridge. Let the people of Helensville not forget that Mr James M^^eod in an a|)le and enthusiastic battler for the best interests of the County of Waitemata every time and all the time, ' What should be done in this matter to simplify the whole ques-

tion, is the extension of the township's area out over the river so as to include the Hot Springs in the township—this will be done, I have not the slightest doubt, in the course of a little time —and the whole area turned into a Borough. In conclusion, Mr Editor, I would just like to say this : There are some people who seem to think that in these matters I hold a brief for Mr James Stewart, Let me say that during the eight years I have been in Helensville, I have always battled for the ideas that I have believed as far as I could see, to be the ones that were in the best interests of the town, irrespective and quite outside of the question as to who has been fathering the different projects. I have battled with and against both Mr J. McLeod and Mr Jas. Stewart, but I have always fought fair and open, I have never been afraid to voice my opinions, and I think I can honestly say that I have never forfeited the good opinion of either gentleman, however vigorously I may have been working against their ideas. Some years back, I started out with the following ideas as to what was required in Helensville. Some of the items have since arrived, the rest are coming. 1. A revaluation of the township. 2. A change in the incidence of Rating. 3. Water and Drainage Schemew 4. The formation of a Borough. 5. The extention of the township to include the Hot Springs. For any of these things I have always been ready and willing to j work with anyone. Thanking you in anticipation, I am, etc., JOSEPH REA.