MOTU RIVER BRIDGE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 830, 26 November 1929, Page 7

MOTU RIVER BRIDGE

OPENING AT MARAENUI

STRUCTURE 530 FEET LONG from Our Own Correspondent OPOTIKI, Monday. There was a great meeting of Europeans and natives at Maraenui today to witness the opening of the bridge spanning the Motu River. The site of the bridge is some 30 miles down the East Coast from Opotiki. Visitors were present from Rotorua, Tauranga, and Whakatane. on the west, and from as firr as Cape Runaway on the east. The chairman of the Opotiki County Council, Mr J. H. Reid, first gave an address, and Sir Apirana Ngata. Minister of Native Affairs, then spoke. He was followed by an old native chief. Koopu, who recalled the great drowning tragedy, which occurred at the mouths of the Motu River in August, 1900, when through the capsize of a canoe carrying children to school, I*> native children and two adult natives were drowned. Mr. K. S. Williams. M.P. for Bay ot Plenty. then performed the opening ceremony, and called upon Mrs. Delamere, an old Maori woman, to cut the ribbon, officially opening the bridge After the opening, ceremony visitors were entertained by the natives, who had prepared a good feast. The site of the bridge is two miles trom the mouth of the river, which is very swift and dangerous. Owing to the fact that the mouth is about a mile wide, and constantly altering its channels it was found impossible to build the bridge near the coast. It is presumed that at one time a deep harbour ran up toward the hills for some distance. This became filled with great quantities of gravel, and a del.a is gradually being built. For many years the only means of crossing tiie river, except when it was low. was by ferry. Mr. K. S • Brooks, who built the big concret bridge spanning the Waioeka fiver at Opotiki was the successful tenderer for the Motu Bridge, which w is successfully completed under contract time. The total cost was L 23,430. The length of the structure, apart from the lengthy approaches, is o3oft. there are five .spans, four being 11-ft in length and one S2tt.