Bridges! Bridges! Bridges!

Manawatu Herald, 29 August 1896, Page 2

Bridges! Bridges! Bridges!

On the north and on the south are men moving for bridged, yet the electors in this district calmly put up with punts over the Manawatu Bi'/t r ! Should this be ? We pub* lifih the following paragraph from the Post, which is interesting reading, and may be the- means of rousing our representatives in local bodies and in Parliament to remember that we have far stronger claims than either the settlers at Ashurst or those in the Horowhenua County. This is the paragraph :— " Mr John Kebbell, Chairman of the Horowhenua County Council, who Was introduced by Mr J. G. Wilson, M.HiR., waited upon the Minister of Lands this morning and asked that Government should give a subsidy of £ for £ to enable the Council to erect bridges over the Tokomaru, Obau, Waikawa, and Otaki rivers. Mr Kebbell, in urging the importance of the proposed works, pointed out that the cost was estimated at about £12,000, that the Council had already raised loans totalling £45,000 for road-making purposes, and that it would have to impose additional taxation to complete the roads. The Minister pro - raised to give the matter his early attention, and at his request Mr Kebbell undertook to furnish a return showing the amount of rates which are being paid per acre by landholders in the County. '' We again repeat that we hold the Government should give assistance in bridging big streams and rivers, but we shall do our best to oppose any grants being made as a favour unless our claims for similar assistance are acknowledged. The cost of a road bridge at Wirokino would not be more than £3,500, and did the Government allot £1750, the interest on the balance at five per cent would be £87 103, whioh tolls would cover. Thus with a little push a great public convenience would ba gained at no expense.