BRIDGE OVER HARBOUR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19416, 26 August 1926, Page 10

BRIDGE OVER HARBOUR

t (i)TTE RY SO HE M E REJ ECTE D.

DECISION • ,OF THE CABINET.-

CHAIRMAN'S DISAPPOINTMENT^

The Government lias declined to entertain the. proposal of the. Waitemata Bridge Committee for . legislative authority ' for the inauguration of a million pounds lottery for.'.'the purpose of constructing a bridge acrosS the' harbotir. - Following consideration by Cabinet an intimation-that the proposals submitted did not meet with the Government's approval, Was conveyed to Mr. A. Harris, M.P ■; by the Minister of Internal 'Affairs; the Hon. R." F. Bollard. Mr. Harris, in a letter to the committee, expressed the opinion that there was no prospect of any reronsideration of this attitude.

Mr. E. G. Skeates, Mayor of Birkenhead, who is chairman of the committee, in referring to the subject last evening, said the Government- was inconsistent regarding these matter's. ..Permits had been eiven for quite a number, of smaller art unions, for Which the public as a whole could see nothing' that they could freely nSe, the objectives being more or less exclusive. The present session of Parliament had also passed a Gaming Billy, which '. gave greater, opportunities than ever to racing clubs. Yet, Cabinet saw fit to I "turn" a, bill 'giving a community an opportunity to raise funds in an open, i above-board method, for a great community work, of unlimited advantage to ,*he whole population of the Auckland Province, and of great ■ use to the people of New Zealand generally, if only from a military point of view. Such a bridge as proposed wpuld have brought large residential areas of. sunny,, .open country, to within: a few: minutes' ; motor reach'of .Auckland City, thereby 'making for healthy and cheaper houses •.'for the' people ~The country could with profit, and .without loss of dignity, carry on such schemos, say, one at a time, for legitimate and useful public .works, and dbereby catch the great volume of ready money that went out of New Zealand into Tattersall's sweeps, and turn it to a good use.