THE HARBOUR BRIDGE.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 260, 2 November 1928, Page 6

THE HARBOUR BRIDGE.

The Prime Minister, answering a question i> t Albany on Saturday last, said that he was not opposed to the proposal to build a bridge across the Auckland Harbour. He was, however, against the Government '. ing asked to provide the money for it just now, because the country had too much other work in hand. He was opposed also to raising the money by an art union, or by premium bonds, adding: "Surely this country can afford to pay for its public works." This is a seeming contradiction. If the country can pay for its public works, why not go on with building the bridge? If the Government has too much on hand just now it cannot pay for its public works as the need becomes urgent; it can only postpone, and again postpone, and, judging by experience and the Prime Minister's utterance, the bridge will be relegated to the dim and distant future. Accepting the statement that the Government has too many public works on hand just now to finance the bridge, niany of us will welcome a plain, practical answer to (a) what is the objection to an art union; (b) -what is the objection to an issue of premium bonds; (c> what is the objection to giving permission to private enterprise to erect the bridge? If the work were financed by any of these methods, the Government would not be asked for a penny. By (a) or (b) the investors would pay; by (c) the users would pay. Why should the country pay when there is no need for it? A taxpayer in, say, Invercargill ought not to be called upon to pay for a bridge to benefit a citizen of, say, Whangarei. THE MAN IN THE STREET.