Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, FRIDAY, NOV. 17, 1911. THE TOWN BRIDGES.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 12614, 17 November 1911, Page 4

Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, FRIDAY, NOV. 17, 1911. THE TOWN BRIDGES.

The loan of £58,000 which the Borough Council has decided upon as being necessary to complete the municipal improvement schemes now in hand and to provide for such indispensable requirements as storm-water drainage and the purchase of a new cemetery site, whilst it has been prudently framed with a view ;to putting the least possible burden upon the ratepayers, is somewhat disappointing in the fact that it fails to make provision for the replacement or restoration of the present bridges across the Turanganui and Taruheru rivers. There is an appropriation of £3500 for a pipe and traffic bridge across the Waimata from Kaiti to Whataupoko, which may be weleomed as a first step in the scheme of rebridging the rivers, for as Mr Metcalfe has pointed out in his report on this subject, it will be absolutely necessary whilst the present bridges are being reconstructed to have an alternative route to give access from town to suburbs, but in view of the emphatic nature of the .consulting engineer's statement regarding the state of the present bridges it would, in our opinion, have been better for the Council to liave faced the position and included in the loan proposal whatever sum was necessary to put these bridges in a safe condition or to replace them with modern structures. Both have outlived their day and generation. The Kaiti bridge is rotten in many of 'its principal timbers, and it is Mr Metcalfe's opinion that with a crowd upon it such as congregated on Coronation night to view the fireworks there, is danger of collapse. Certainly the passage of mobs of cattle and heavy wool waggons imposes a strain upon the weakened timbers, and the condition of the bridge is growing to be such that ,the public must have a feeling of insecurity in connection with the use ot it. The Taruheru bridge is in little better condition. It is clearly overloaded with the weight of metal upon the , roadway, through _, which in wet weather percolates a great amount of moisture to rot the decking timbers. The passage of heavy wool waggons and, mobs of cattle across this structure also, imposes too : heavy a burden on the, bridge in its present state. The footway is declared by Mr Metcalfe to be' safe for only a limited number of foot passengers. A few years at most is the "life of this bridge, : and it is not too early for #e Council to be taking authority for ; jts reconstruction and for the replacement of the Kaiti bridge with a substantial structure in ferro concrete. The proposal to put the pipe and traffic bridge at the foot of Ormond road commends . itself to us as being a sensible recommendation.. It would be more in the line of direct traffic between the main arteries of the two suburbs, and. would at the same time be a valuable alternative whilst one or other .of the existing bridges was closed for repairs. The purpose v . of affording a safe structure for the driving of stock would be as well afforded by. locating the bridge at Ormond rood as at McLean street, where there is a, turn into. a by-street; moreover, the objection to the McLean street site, is the costliness of the approaches on the Kaiti side. Mr Metcalfe Tecommends the Council to qbtain authority to make whatever new bridges it erects fixed structures, without the swings that have hitherto had to be put in, in view of 'the fact that tidal waterways were being spanned. So far as shipping traffic on the rivers for the past twenty years is concerned, this might well be agreed to, but it is hard to predict the possibilities of the future, especially in view of the development of petroleum, and we doubt whether^ the Council -would be justified in seeking to diminish the riparian rights of owners of • property abutting on the waterway: Moreover,' there is one ' f actor' that should not be lost sight of. When the dred^ Maui has . completed ; the excavation of the channel} -turning basin,, and docks for the inner harbor, she should certainly be-'- employed to cut out' the mud Hats of the. Taruheru arid • Waimate rivers, which at present detract from the appearance of "the town, and must to some extent- provide unhealthy conditions'. A few weeks' work- of the dredge above the bridges would, rentove the; exposed mud and give the river the appearance of being always? at* full '■tide, and this improvement would-.not only- add greatly to" the attractiveness and sanitary ' con : dition.of 'the Hown, < but. would conform to the scheme of 1 harbor 'improvement recommended by' Mi* Nepie"^ Bell When he advis&Uthat as.' great a. fjdal area; of ; water>.as possible .should bevpr^vided; sb as^'to giv^faig^od' scour' kt ttoevrive*,en-traJlce^-''^3^e»jjloßMig:.tfof'-thjß rivers^. to steamboat traffic by the erection of fjsexi bridges would r prevent an improvement which 'is 'rttesWdesiraWe, and - viewir»f>th>. "Slsborhe • •<*?* ™ i t^ture-^the;-'' l u , jjsf!9ifj^tie tjity^that ■• wjft^hope" to rSee'- i -we''hope'.«>no i retrograde step will be taken.: IJfe^haVe ho d'e^ir^ to cavil at' the Tery v prudent loan proposltils brought forward- by, hjs 'Worship the Mayor — the carefulness and

moderation of which should secure unanimous acceptance— but we should have greatly liked to have seen some better provision made for. the re-bridging of the rivers. This, we are satisfied, will have to conte in the very near future.