THE BRIDGE COMMISSION.

(Before Mr Short, Commissioner.) Tho Commissioner sat for a short time last night, in the Club Hotel, when the evidence of' George; Newman, coach-drivpr, was taken': Tine witra&sstated that the tutal passenger tvaffic of tha Wairau fords for Newmans coach from November Ist to December 81st, 1910, from this end was 139. Of these eight oame from Omaba.and 131 from Blenheim. Of the total 34 went to Pelorus four to Havelock, seven to Waimea, and 34 to Nelson. From the Nelson end a tptal of. 120 passengers had1 come by the coachi —two from Waimea, 51 from Havelock, 35 from Pelorus, and 32 from Nelson.

TO-DAY'S EVIDENCE. .- When the Commission resurifed at •9.30 o'clock this morning, Me« G.. Hogers suggested that the eviaence of the engineers who wanted to get away to Wellington this afternoon might ;be taken first. Owing to the engineers not being available the Cominissibner agreedto bear Mr Nees, in order that the Commission might proceeds '"■ ■■ :• ' ■'•■-"'' ■■ ■ ■ Gftarles .Nees,' i sawmiller, Wakanvarina, stated thajt he had been in the. district' 36 years. He sent his timber to Blenheim and the surrounding districts." It went chiefly to Waixau, Omaka, Spring Creek, and Awatere. He sent from 800,000 feet to 1,000,000 feet to* Blenheim, and this represented about £4500 or £5000. Be did not send as much .to1 the other -places altogether as he did- to Blenheim. He sent 40,000 feet to the PubTic Works Department last year, and ibis would represent about £200. He could not say how much timber wias sent out to th© Awatere district from the merchants in Blenheim, More tuafcer came from the Pelorus into B^Buieim than came from any other e^Ke. ' All the timber from the pMtus was "carted on waggons, and cslj^fc acros3' the ford.'. He paid two conßfect waggoners over £500 a year eacaL. He'had supplied timber to the Wallfci rcvad' district,- but this was throTMjf a' builder in the Omaka road district He would say he had .supplied Tp|ber to Avondaleto thei value of £3015. ;< ."He got all his oats rrom Blenheim','although Ids teams did not -come to Blewboim. He paid about £360 to- merchants for horse-feed-The cost of harness, repairs in a year was aboui £30, and the waggon repairs about £30. ■ Be was chairman of the conierenoe of local bodies hekl for the puipose of- considering the question of erecting this bridge. All the local bodies in Marlborougli were represented, and the delegates agreed that the bridge was necessary.

To Mr McCailum: The Minister for Public Works had advised a deputation to hold a conferencej and when it was decided, that a bridge' should be erected to go to Wellington and ask for half the <k>st, and he promised to do what he could for them when the question came before Cabinet. The late Hon. Mr Trask,'of Nelson, was present when a subse/juent deputation went to Wellington and waited upon the Minister and urged the claims of the, deputationists , for a bridge. The bridge would benefit Nelson, and also the Awatere district;

To Mr Mills: The timber sent to Avc-ndale was supplied about three years ago. He could only tell from the orders where the timber went to. His .waggoners eot their feed from Blenheim. Cultivation in the Pelorus district, was increasing, and conse- ■ quently the demand for feed was decreasing. The bridge would have the effect of cheapening the cost of carting timber Iby 6d per 100 ft, and whatever the difference -was his customers would get the benefit of it. To Mr G. Rogers: : The farmers would not go down the Spring Creek road. The bridge would tend to throw & great deal of the traffic on to the Upper Spring Creek road. The bridge would benefit Blenheim, Omaka, and Wairau much more than it would Spring Creek.* A fair average load for a timber waggon all the year round was 2500 ft. To Mr Harley: He did not think that the Waimea County should pay much.

To Mr Moore: He did not know whether the late Hon. Mr Tra.sk was appointed to represent the Nelson ■City Council at the deputation in Wellington. Messrs Colvin and Duncan,. M;.-Ps., were the members of the Legislature who accompanied that deputation. .. To Mr; Conolly: During the last three years timber had gone from his mill to Picton. He sold the.timber to Messrs BythelL and Co., of Blenheim, who sent it on to Picton after it had been dressed. He could not say that Picton should not be asked to pay anything towards this bridge. Messrs McCormick and Fell represented1 Picton at the conference, and also on the deputation to Wellington. •Re-examined: The traffic was more often stopped at the Wairati than at the Opawa. (Left Sitting.)