WAIRAU BRIDGE SITE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19133, 26 September 1925, Page 13

WAIRAU BRIDGE SITE.

OBJECTION TO STATEMENT. • • COUNTY COUNCIL'S ATTITUDE. ROYAL COMMISSION DESIRED. A strong protest was made by Mr. G. O'Halloran at a meeting of the Waitemata County Council yesterday against the statement by Mr. J. D. Morison, Mayor of Takapuna, that the decision of the commission which recently inquired into the mosl suitable site for the Wairau Bridge was cut and dried beforehand. The statement should be given an emphatic denial, said Mr. O'Halloran, It was most unfair to cast reflections on the members of the commission who had patiently listened to the evidence brought before them, and had arrived at a fair conclusion. - As to the statement that the commission gave its finding within an hour of the conclusion of the evidence, tho reason was perfectly clear. There was such an overwhelming weight of evidence in favour of the Craig Road site that there could be no delay in. reaching a decision. The chairman, Mr. F. W. Gr.gg, supported this contention, saying that the evidence was so greatly in favour of the Craig Road site that there was no alternative. A letter was received from tho Marine Department, stating that the Minister could not ,see his way to sign tho plans of the bridge. A resolution was passed regretting this decision in view of the Minister's statement to a deputation that his signature would necessarily follow the approval of the structural details of tho plans by his engineers. It was also decided to ask the Government to appoint a Royal Commission to deal with the present controversy at the earliest possible moment.