SYDNEY HARBOUR BRIDGE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21599, 21 March 1932, Page 6

SYDNEY HARBOUR BRIDGE.

The great bridge on Sydney Harbour, familiar to all the world in picture, has been declared open at a ceremony marked by features appropriate to an event of historic import to the State of New South Wales. The scene was no doubt one to be long remembered for colourful pageantry in a beautiful setting. The bridge itself, as all who have seen it appreciate, is an extraordinarily dominant feature of Sydney, and, as an example of engineering skill, one of the outstanding achievements of the age. It would be going somewhat far to say that it has enhanced the appearance of Sydney Harbour, but so far as a huge steel structure of the kind can be beautiful it possesses that attribute, and is a work of art in its combination of symmetry and strength. The people of Sydney have waited long for this bridge. They have watched it taking shape, form, and proportion for some years past, and now the cup of their satisfaction should be full. That it is overflowing it might, however, be somewhat rash to assert. When the bridge project was embarked upon the economic conditions bore a different complexion from that which they wear at the present time. The effects of the prevalent depression and the financial troubles of the State have probably, to use a homely but expressive phrase, taken a little of the gilt off the gingerbread. The bridge has • cost, moreover, nearly twice as much as was originally expected,—a result mainly due to expenditure outside the construction contract. . These interesting figures were recently given in the Legislative Assembly of New South Wales by the Minister of Works:— Actual construction cost of the bridge, approaches, etc., £0.230,000. Variation of wages, £720,000. Interest during construction £1,460.000. Resumptions,' £1,350,000. Miscellaneous, £140,000. Total, £9,900,000. It is estimated that 25,000,000 one-way passengers will be carried annually over the bridge by the railway system, and that 2,400,000 vehicles will cross it in a year. The annual revenue is expected to be about £523,000. Pedestrians will have free passage, but otherwise a tolls system will apply. In a recent article entitled “Paying

for the Bridge” the Sydney Morning Herald struck a somewhat gloomy note, which was not perhaps surprising in view of its opinion of the Lang Government and its “ business undertaking.” It pointed out that as a result of the increase in cost from the original estimate everybody must of course pay more. The tolls, it suggested, would be indignantly resented, especially by North Shore citizens who had been paying for the bridge for nearly ten years, and paying on the property values enhanced in prospect of the bridge connection. It expressed the hope that the public would be able to perceive daily and plainly “the monstrosity that* £10,000,000 should be spent on of £5.750,000 bridge.” It is unfortunate that the satisfaction and reasonable pride,of the'people of .Sydney, and perhaps of New South Wales, in contemplating the magnificent structure that now spans Sydney Harbour should be tempered by mundane considerations of cost. Their pockets being touched every time they cross the bridge otherwise than on foot, they may be tempted to ponder whether it had not been better after all for Sydney to be content with her beautiful harbour as it was and her really excellent ferry facilities. Of course, the occurrence of the economic depression could not be foreseen when the bridge project was launched. But whether due or not to the damper chst on enthusiasm, by a change of outlook, the suggestion has not been lacking that the bridge is a somewhat premature creation, which could have been dispensed with for perhaps twenty-five years to come. That may indeed very well be the case. But if, for the people of Sydney, enjoyment of all the facilities afforded by the bridge cannot be quite unclouded by reason of the necessity of contributing more than they anticipated to the charges by which its cost must be met, they must find their compensation in the possession of one of the wonders of the world, a triumph of British engineering skill. The value of an asset of that kind cannot be precisely estimated, but it must be considerable. Amid the cordial congratulations showered upon her in the hour of the, fulfilment of an ambitious undertaking Sydney will assuredly not be lacking in ambition to live up to her bridge.