Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, OCT. 6, 1900. Bridges.

Manawatu Herald, 6 October 1900, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, OCT. 6, 1900. Bridges.

Local bodies have many anxieties and amongst them is that of the likelihood of an action for damages for the insecurity of some public highway over which they have control. A country, the passes through which are over untouched natural soil, is in the first stage of development, and every traveller accepts the risks of travelling, holding himself only responsible, and, may be, from that fact, exercises more caution. Directly a public body interferes with the natural lay of the country and form roads, whether by simply shaping them out, ox* by putting them into a complete state, they baoome burdened with a

responsibility that all that they have in any .way interfered with is kept in a state of security for the safe movement of the general public, from the reason they have pointed out a road to be taken, and led strangers to believe it was a safe road to take. During the course of a road drains and streams have to be crossed, over whioh the public body erects bridges, and a question often arises whether a certain bridge is strong e^ou^h to carry a probable weight w'-u'oh may ho pn^i up?n i., and a public body often try to save themselves by causing a notice to be affixed that they, the local body, will not be auswe.ablo if a greater weight than th<t they name is taken over it These notices are frequently put up under a mistaken conception of the Act and of the duties placed upon local bodies The general, and we may add, the legal idea, is that a public thoroughfare should be in a condition to oarry what may be termed a fair load, and that bridges must be built equal to that strain. During the course of years bridges naturally get weaker and after inspection it has been found necessary to caution the publio about taking a weight over a certain weight mentioned, over the bridge. This is, however, only good as a shield to the local body against damages for a short period, and it cannot be used for any term to save the looal body incurring the necessary expenditure to place it in order to safely carry that weight, whatever it may be, which can be considered a fair load. It has been held that such a warning notice is of no value as a shield to the local body if it has been notified a longer term than was necessary to have repaired the bridge, and the local body would be answerable for any damage occasioned by a bridge which failed to carry a fair weight.

We have put this matter as clearly before our readers as we could as the question about the stability of a bridge has arisen in this Borough, and the Council last Monday passed a resolution to place a notice on the bridge that any load taken over it over twenty hundredweight would be at owner's risk. Here the principle is accepted of the Borough having a risk if anything happened to a vehicle, horseman, or footpassenger passing over the bridge, under a ton in weight. We fear that the Counoil have not realised their responsibility for damages, or their responsibility to see that their bridges are strong enough to carry a fair load. It may be argued that a ton is a fair load, but the sensible view to take is, would a ton be a fair load for a carter to take from Foxton to Levin ? Would the prices he oould obtain for cartage possibly pay him for his time and that of two ho sen if h^ was bound to carry not more than one ton ? If the opinion is that it would not pay a man to cart with this quantity alone then it becomes the question what is a fair load ? and that decided by reasonable consideration all bridges should be safe for that determined weight.

The bridge in question is one over the government drain and is on the road from Foxton to Levin, and by being declared not safe for any weight "ver a ton practically suspends the traffic, or may lead to an action for damages against the Borough. No ratepayer wants the Law to be invoked, and none want an accident;, but nnless some action is taken to strengthen this bridge the prospects of both are possible. We admit that the finances of the Borough are not so good as could be wished, and that money cannot be found for all the works most wanted, and it is difficult to do everything at once, but this bridge hampers the traffic being developed with L9vin, which has taken a start since the erection of the Wiuokino bridge, that it seems a pity the bridge over the river should be made practically useless because of repairs to a small bridge, which is not estimated to cost more than £20, cannot be done. We believe our Town Clerk is sufficiently a good financier to get over this little difficulty.