OPENING OF THE SKIPPERS BRIDGE.

Evening Star, Issue 11512, 1 April 1901, Page 3

OPENING OF THE SKIPPERS BRIDGE.

For some years past the mining community of Skippers have been anxiously ; awaiting the completion- of the bridge over the Shotover, known as "the- Skippers bridge." From one cause or another the work has been considerably delayed, a.nd although the first grant-in-aid was authorised in 1893 the structure has only been out of the contractor's hands for the last few weeks, itfie bridge is swung by means of steel cables testing'on concrete piers over a rocky gorge, and is said to be the highest in New Zea- ■ land, there being a drop of 250 ft from the ■floor to the stream below. The spa.n is about ;315ft; and altogether the work is one of (considerable magnitude, and of great import>ancc to the district. Until the bridge was ; completed tho dray road from Queenstown _ ended some little "way from the Skippers [Hotel, and consequently everything had to 'be " packed " for the latter part of the disitance, thereby increasing the cost of stores, S-coal, and, in "fact, all the necessaries of life !to a considerable extent. It now only re- , mains for a road five or six miles in length do be constructed in order to render communication complete for vehicles of all kinds from Queenstown to the reefs. In order to celebrate the completion of a work of so much importance to the district the residents determined that the bridge should, be opened with proper ceremony on the 29th ult., and, as a large proportion of the cost had been provided by the Government, members of the Ministry were invited ito be present. The Hon, Mr M*Gowan, ;.Minister of Mines, accepted the invitation, ! and arrived at Queenstown on Wednesday fclast, accompanied by the Under-Secretary for .'(Mines and his private secretary. The party ! started for Skippers under the able conduct |of Mr Dagg at BJS a.m. on Friday, and preached the scene of action shortly before one •o'clock, the time fixed for the ceremony. There they were met by Mr Reid (chairman .■of the Lake County Council) and several of 'the councillors, together with Mr Cotter and Mr Collins (chairman and secretary respectively of the Opening Committee), who welI corned them to Skippers in the name of the iiesidents. The bridge was prettily decorated 'with greenery, an a,rch of welcome being erected at the entrance. When the usual preliminaries had been attended to, Mr M'Gowan wasasked to declare fthe bridge open. Before doing so he said jhe must apologise for the absence of the Premier, who, he knew, from tho interest he I had always taken in mining matters, would r have been only too pleased to have accepted I their invitation had his public duties not ■necessitated bis presence in Wellington. Mr ■Seddon had asked him if he could make it ■convenient to represeut the Government. JHe had replied that he had been at Skippers before, and would be pleased to go back again to take part in tho present function.— ■(Applause.) Mr M'Gowan went on to say that he represented a Government who, he believed, had the interests of the mass of the people at heart.—(Applause.) They had i been called a Socialistic Government, but in lis opinion their Socialism really consisted in "making roads and bridges, and doing numerous other things for the benefit of the people •at large. He might say that their desires in that direction were only limited by tho amount of money Parliament was prepared ;to vote them. The bridge before them was one of the works in question, a large proportion, of the cost having been provided out of the public exchequer. Tho first grant in •connection with the bridge was authorised .in 1893. Tenders were subsequently called, and a contract let-at £4,244 for the construction of the bridge and approaches. Of this •Amount the Mines Department agreed to contribute £3,244. •Up to the present time .£2,500 of uhis had been spent, and he would bo only too happy to authorise the payment of the balance due (£744) when the accounts and papers were placed before him. This work was started with a grant of £1,500. Tho local bodies in the district, each contributed towards the cost—Arrow Borough providing £25 and Queenstown a like amount, the major portion of the money being foirnd by the Lake County Council, a loan being raised to carry out this great task. .With reference to the work itself, be believed that Mr Black, the County Engineer, had Been that it was carried out in a substantial end workmanlike manner. It was foirnd after the plans were drawn that the rock on the side on which he stood was not. solid enough to provide anchorage for the ;ables, .and the result was that Mr Bladv had to sink a shaft and put in a drive in order to make everything secure by means of concrete foundations. This, of course, entailed considerable additional cost, which had all to bo "borne by the county. He understood that, the Public Works Engineer (Mr Ussher) had lately inspected the bridge, and pronounced it, so far as he could see, a, thoroughly substantial and well-built structure, although, of course, he had been unable to examine fthe concrete foundations in which the anchors '-were fixed. He congratulated the local bodies of the district, and particularly tho County Council, on the successful completion of the undertaking they had worked so hard to carry out. He would now ask Mrs Johnson, the oldest resident in the district, to cut the ribbon, so that they could all pass ovor the bridge. This being done and the bottle of champagne being broken, Mr M'Gowan duly declared the bridge open for traffic. When the Minister reached the Skippers end of the bridge an address of welcome was lead by Mr Collins, secretary to the Opening Committee. The Minister of Mines, in, reply, thanked the residents of Skippers most heartily for the welcome they had given him, and trusted the new bridge'would enable the gold-mining industry to be carried ,pn more easily and cheaply than heretofore, and that it would also lead to further development. Miners had been the pioneers of settlement in New Zealand, and ho wa« always glad when some of the difficulties in their way could be removed. He then called for three cheers for the miners of Skippers, which were heartily ,given.

Mr Andrew Lambie, member for the Skippers Riding of the Lake County Council, briefly addressed those assembled. This part of the ceremony being disposed of, tfie company ajourned to,.Mr Johnson's hotel, •where a banquet was held. The toast list comprised "The King," "The Ministry," "The Bridge," "Mining and Agricultural Industries," etc. In responding to the toast of " The Ministry," the Minister of Mines said that ho was exceedingly gratified to tind that the efforts of the Government to remove the disabilities under which the mining community .suffered were appreciated. Many of those present would remember the dissatisfaction that was expressed throughout Otago during his tour through the mining districts with regard to the Act and regulations then in force in connection with dredging. In most of the places he visited he was deputationised on this subject.. At that time he refused to make any definite promise with regard to alterations, and in consequence many of the country papers criticised the- Minister of Mines pretty severely, becanse they considered he was a " square peg in a round He supposed this was because he i would not promise everything that was asked for. But it so happened that the .Minister of Mines was one who had been .closely connected with raining for the past thirty years, and while he was open-minded and ready to learn everything possible, he ; was careful to say nothing about his own "knowledge of mining—he was waiting to hear tin views of all those who were asking for concessions, and lie was bound to say that the majority of the demands were not Unreasonable. While he did not promise to comply with their requests, he formed a resolution that he would do something to remedy the condition of affairs. He was determined, however, to investigate matters for himself, and not to depend solely upon the opinions of others. He was thus able to form some idea of the difficulties dredging companies had to contend with, and was able eventually to remove them —to a certain extent, at all events. He was glad to say that when they saw the result of his efforts many of the papers that had adversely criticised him admitted that after all ho was nob a " square peg in a round hole," but " the right man in the right place." The point he wished to emphasise was this: that he was always anxious to do everything in his power to further the- interests of the mining industry. Complaints had been made that, owing to the limited amount of protection that con Id be granted under the present Mining Act, cuniDiinies weie corn-

pelled to get their dredges built outside the colony; but as a matter of fact this -was not the case. The real reason was that companies were anxious to get their dredges started in order to get returns as soon as possible. Ho was always ready to give companies a reasonable time to place their machines on the .ground, but there was another interest to serve—he must prevent the locking-up of land. The Government were opposed to monopoly of any kind, their object being to develop the country' to the utmost extent of their power. He also commented upon the prosperity of the colony, the reductions in taxation, "and the. part our volunteers had taken in the South African War.

Telegrams of apology for non-attendance were received by the Bridge-opening Committee from the Right Hon. the Premier, Hon. Mr Ward, and Mr W. Fraser, M.H.R. for the district. In connection with the last-mentioned, Mr M'Gowan said he knew Mr Fras2r would have liked very much to be present, but was prevented "by his attendance being required as a member of the Midland Railway Commission. When the banquet was over the Minister and party left for Queenstown. One and all were very much pleased with the way in which they had been entertained. The repast prepared by Mrs Johnson received special commendation, and the arrangements made by the Committee aud County Council were everything that conld be desired. The chairman (Mr Cotter) and the secretary (Mr Collins) certainly deserve great credit for the manner in which they engineered affairs duxinj; the day.