WANTED, A BRIDGE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23686, 19 December 1938, Page 10

WANTED, A BRIDGE

PLIGHT OF BLACKS SETTLERS RIVER MUST BE FORDED Settlers on the Downs Settlement in the Blacks district of Central Otago have for years been wondering when the long-promised bridge across the Manuherikia River which will give them access to the main road, which is only three miles away, is going to be erected. Lately there has been some evidence of impatience on the part of some residents, particularly those whose children have to ford the river every day to go to school at Becks. One of the Downs settlers told a Daily Times reporter at the weekend that the inconvenience was being borne with less grace every year, more especially as the Minister of Labour (Mr R. Semple) on his last visit to the district informed the Vincent County Council in the presence of a deputation of settlers that he was prepared to furnish a subsidy of £3 for £1 for the construction of a bridge. Since then an amount of £ 1500 has been voted for the work, but nothing has yet been done. Eleven families were affected, and if they did not ford the river they had to make an 11-mile detour to reach the main road. Children on the settlement have to cross the Manuherikia River every day, and in the case of the smaller of them parents have to take them to the river and see them safely across, a proceeding which he stated few farmers could afford in the busy times of the year. In the rainy season when the river is high it is necessary for children to be boarded at the hotel at Becks to enable them to avoid long interruptions in their schooling. On another page is a photograph of two children fording the river on their way to school in a pony jogger cart. The father of the children stated that the river is frequently dangerous for such a crossing, and that on more than one occasion he had had to stand on the river bank and watch the wheels of the little cart submerged and then suddenly swing right round with the rush of water. He declared that settlers feel very strongly on the subject and consider that some of the huge expenditure on main arterial and tourist roads might be spared to give settlers reasonable access to their township. He emphasised the fact that the Downs settlers could hardly be classed as outback landholders, as the nearest point of the settlement is not more than three miles distant from the Becks township.