BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13398, 29 January 1907, Page 6

BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION.

NEW AND. INEXPENSIVE METHOD.

[BT TELEGRAPH.—OWN CORRESPONDENT.]

Ik

Ckristchtjrch, Monday. REFERRING to the remarks made .by the Minister for Lands, at Eketahuna regarding Mr. Joseph Dawson's bridge building, the Lyttelton Times says:—"For ourselves, we have little doubt that Mr. Dawson has hit upon a commonsense style of construction, which will save thousands of pounds every year, to the local bodies, and enable them to bridge many streams which at present stand as a menace to human life, and an obstacle to the progress of settlement." Mr. Hogg, the member for Masterton,- writing to us a fortnight ago, " to obtain justice for one of the most worthy pioneers,' as lie put it, bore most emphatic testimony to the value of Mr, Dawson's work. "No limpets »have clung more, firmly to a rock," lie wrote, " than the Government and local engineers cling to the old bridge. On the Mangatainoka River are two bridges, within a mile or two of each other, with a similar span. They Kvere erected by Mr. Joseph Dawson only a few years apart. One is a truss bridge, designed by the Public Works Department, and cost £1850, the other is a suspension bridge, designed by the builder, Mr. Dawson, and cost £500. The latter is undoubtedly the better bridge of the two." " The new bridge, which was opened by the Minister for Lands last week, is probably the one with which the local engineer refused to have anything to do, feeling, no doubt, that his profession had been slighted by the acceptance of the plans of a layman." "We have referred to the matter," adds the Times, " because it is really of consequence to the ratepayers in every part of the colony. The Premier • has just promised a deputation in Auckland that the Government will assist in restoring the bridges that have been destroyed in the district by the recent floods, and' it will make, a considerable difference to the Treasury, as well as to the local bodies, if the cost of each structure is reduced by two-thirds, or half. In Canterbury, a new bridge is wanted over the RanWtata, and there are a score of streams that ought to be spanned, in other parte of the province. We do not suppose that Mr. Dawson has discovered any secret that is hidden from the orthodox engineers, and if Ids work has stood all the tests of time ' and traffic, it should be easily copied by the others.