SYDNEY'S BRIDGE.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18015, 6 March 1924, Page 9

SYDNEY'S BRIDGE.

DECISION AT LAST. SIX YEARS' WORK. Cfeom a special correspondent.) SYDNEY, February 28. It was not without a considerable degree of surprise that Sydney awoke yesterday morning to learn that the State Cabinet had definitely accepted a tender for the harbour bridge. More than half a century of procrastination and disappointment had bred a race of sceptics, and the strong influences and cross currents that have been operating during the last month or two had resulte(} in a widespread feeling that at any rate there would be protracted wrangling and delay before finality was reached. It .is only a fortnight since the Government's engineer, Mr Bradfield, who designed the bridge and prepared all the specifications, submitted his report on the twenty tenders that were submitted by six firms, and his recommendation, which was endorsed by the Minister for Works, Mr Ball, has been adopted by the acceptance of Dorman, Long and Co.'s tender of £4,217,721. This price docs not include the bridge approaches, which are being constructed by the State Works Department, and on which work was more than a year ago. The principal cause of uncertainty regarding the issue, so far as the public is concerned, had been the growing movement in favour of the acceptance of an Australian tender, irrespective of how much the price might excecel the tenders from oversea. Members of Parliament, Labour bodies, and others have exerted all their influence to this end, but the Cabinet's decision has been a complete answer to all the arguments that were raised, because, although Dorman, Long and Co. are an English firm, with their principal at Middlesbrough, they have extensive works in Sydney and in Melbourne, and they undertake to fabricate almost the whole of the bridge parts in Australia, while a very large proportion of the metal will bo supplied by the Broken Hill Proprietary Co. from their steel works at Newcastle, New South Wales. This was the only tender besides that of the English Electric Co. (an Australian firm in whose interests the question was primarily raised) which embodied this advantage. Thus the successful tender, which is for an arch type of bridge with great granite towers at each end, holds all the attractions for Australia that were offered by the local tender, and at the same time is £1,391,403 less in cost. It is promised that the bridge shall be completed within six years, the number of men to be employed being estimated at between fifteen and eighteen hundred. Of these about one-third will be skilled in one trade or another, but it will be necessary to import only very few. The price tendered is £111,809 less than the estimate furnished to Parliament by Mr Bradfield. The Act under which the bridge is to be constructed gave complete authority for the work, so that the matter has now been finally settled and is not subject to any ratification by Parliament. The contractors have already commenced their preparations for the work, and it is expected that the actual operations on the site will commence in about six months' time. The bridge will occupy a dominating position on the harbour, just above Sydney Cove, at the head of which is the famous Circular Quay. The city end will rest on Dawes Point, where the same steep eminence as that on which the Observatory is situated provides a fine jumping-off place; and the northern end will overshadow Milson's Point —the main ferry landing on that side, and rest on the hill some distance back from the water-liue.