OPENING OF A BRIDGE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3211, 10 June 1909, Page 5

OPENING OF A BRIDGE.

By Telegraph—Press Association. . PALMERSTON N., June 9. There was beautiful weather today for tne important' ceremony of opening' Lower Manawatu Gorge bridge by His Excellency the Governor.

In August 1895 the former traffic bridge was swept away, since which time the only communication between the East and West Coasts has been by'what is known as the Pahiatua track over the top of the ranges further south with severe grades and intermittently over the ferry. The bridge has been many years in building, and at times Mr Maurice O'Connor (contractor) and Mr H. J. Haynes have had their plans repeatedly interrupted by Hoods, which have done severe damage to the work completed. The bridge should now, in the opinion of Mr Haynes, last for a century. It consists of six sDans of 138 feet each, resting on braced steel cylinders sunk from 40 to 60 feet in the river bed, and the decking is 30ft above the average water level. The roadway is 14 feet wide, and the contract price was £IB,OOO, but the total cost will be above £20,000. His Excellency cut the ribbon, and declared the bridge opened in the presence of many hundreds of people and representatives of all the Jocal bodies from Pahiatua, Woodvil'e, Feilding, Palmerston and Ashhurst.