HARBOUR BRIDGE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 243, 13 October 1932, Page 3

HARBOUR BRIDGE.

SCHEME FOR FINANCE

BIRKENHEAD COUNCILLOR

AXNUAL ART UNION,

A suggestion for the financing of the Auckland harbour bridge wae contained in a letter to the Birkenhead Borough Council, from one of the councillors.

Mr. Macdonald euid that a body should be created, called the Auckland Bridge Board, elected by the various local bodies. Delegates should be to the number of 15, and the Mayor of Auckland should be chairman. The board should act as managing directors pf the bridge.

The Unemployment Board should be asked to contribute £300,000, and the board should have power to organise an annual art union, until the cewt of the bridge was liquidated. Tolls should be charged until the construction cost was paid. To suit the legal requirements of bridge contractors he suggested a, bridge rating area to extend as far as Whangarci. With such a scheme, he eaid, there was no reason why the bridge should not be started after Easter.

(icneral opinion in the council favoured the scheme, but Mr. H. A. Campbell said that the proposed rating area would kill it right away.

Mr. P. Denneu said nothing could be done until the existing company had gone into liquidation.

After discussion the council appointed a sub-committee to consider the scheme in detail, and decided to submit the scheme to the committee formed by the recent conference of local bodies. The sub-eonnnittee comprises the Mayor, Mr. G. Mills, and Messrs. J. Macdonald, W. H. Payne and H. A. Campbell. " CONFERENCE A FIASCO/* ONE TREE HILL MAYOR'S REPORT. "As your representative I attended the meeting convened by the Mayor of Takapuna on October 5, to discuss matters in connection with the harbour bridge, but, in my opinion, the conferpro ved a fiasco. Nobody seemed to know what it was all about," said the Mayor, Mr. I. J. Goldstine, at last night's meeting of the One Tree Hill Borough Council. The Takapuna Borough Council had written stating that the Mayor, Mr. J. Guinivcn, would furnish a report of what took place at the meeting.

"Mr. Guiniven had no plan of campaign, nor any policy to outline, but said he had some 'inside information.' When pressed to 6ay just what this 'inside information' was, he said that he had been given to understand there was a likelihood of the Harbour Bridge Company going into liquidation. There were two directors, Mr. Bloodworth and Mr. Wills, present, and they said it was news to them. Mr. Guinivcn. then gave us to understand that there were one or two directors who would like to see the local bodies take control. The conference then developed into a' fiasco, and with Mr. Bloodworth and one or two others I came away before the meeting was over, as I did not want to lie associated with anything that might be decided by the meeting."