OTIRA RIVER.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CV, Issue 12402, 16 January 1901, Page 5

OTIRA RIVER.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—A large number of ..passengers, of ■whom I was one, travelling from Hokitika to Christchurch by coach were, on Tuesday last, detained through the flooded condition of the Otira River. There wore several ladies, who, In common with passengers of my own sex, may have been seriously inconvenienced by the delay and the discomfort that was experienced upon the occasion. With our experiences I will not trouble,you; they, were as comical as they were disagreeable. There was a concensus of opinion amongst the passengers., and others that a foot-bridge across the Otira: would very frequently prevent the detention of mails and passengers. The bridge should not. entail a large expenditure, and certainly it would indirectly, if not directly, prove a remunerative work. The attention of the Government has been more than once called to the matter, bub as yet nothing has been done. The Waimakariri, at the Bealey, is frequently fordable when the Otira is not. As that was the case, I believe, on Tuesday, with a foot-bridge over the Otira the passengers and mails by the -coach could have reached here on Wednesday at 6.30 p.m., instead of this morning (Friday) at ten o’clock. I feel sure that you will ventilate this to my mind, most important public matter. I should like, if I may, to’bear_ testimony to the excellence of Mr Cassidy s teams and coaches, to' the care and civility Of His drivers, and to their united desire to make the journey over the mountains plealent to the passengers.—l am, etc., ■ T. S- WESTON.