HARBOUR BRIDGE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 726, 27 July 1929, Page 9

HARBOUR BRIDGE

PLEA FOR GOVERNMENT ACTION THE PROMISED £SOO (THE SUN’S Parliamentary Reporter) WELLINGTON, Friday. Once more, in the House of Representatives this afternoon, Mr. A. Harris (Waitemata) entered a plea for urgent Government action in connection with the Waitemata Harbour Bridge. He asked that the sum of £SOO promised by the Government be expended and the necessary tribunal be set up. He referred to the value of the bridge as a means of providing work for the unemployed of Auckland. He traced the work that had been done by the Harbour Bridge Association and said that sifter the presentation of a petition signed by 44,000 residents of Auckland, the late Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates, had promised the sum of £SOO toward the expenses of a survey of the harbour bed. Auckland was grateful for that, but time was the essence of the contract. The money was available on October 9, 1928, and had not yet been expended. Mr. Harris asked the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Sir Joseph Ward, to call a conference of departmental officers and all bodies interested in the building of the bridge, so that the tribunal might be set up. He urged the Government also to act as quickly as possible in the provision of the money for the survey. He had been promised by the new Government that the tribunal would be set up, but so far nothing had been done. He received nice replies and had nice receptions from the Ministers he had seen, but had got no further than that. THOUSANDS WAITED Before the Prime Minister had made his speech in the Auckland Town Hall, before the session opened, there had been a rumour going round that he was going to make a definite announcement about the bridge. The Hon. T. M. Wilford: Did you start the rumour?

Mr. Harris said that he did not, bqt that the announcement had been hinted at in statements and interviews. The result was that thousands of people had attended at the Town Hall, and had eagerly awaited Sir Joseph Ward's announcement. (Here Mr. Harris painted a wordpicture of the crowd and the dramatic silence which greeted Sir Joseph’s first reference to the bridge). He described the great roars of applause when the Prime Minister announced that he was in sympathy with the project, and then the anti-climax when the Prit e Minister said that he would give £SO0 —the sum promised by the late Prime Minister. Here there were loud roars of laughter from Mr. R. Semple (Wellington East). Both Mr. Harris and the crowd were disappointed. Mr. Wilford: Will the hon.. gentleman vote for the completion of the South Island Main Trunk if I vote for the harbour bridge? Mr. Harris: There is no comparison between the harbour bridge and the South Island Main Trunk. Our bridge will pay handsomely. He continued that the people were becoming irritated by the delay. Mr. P. Fraser (Wellington Central), wearily: What does the hon. gentleman want? An investigation? Mr. Harris: Yes. ABSORBING UNEMPLOYED

He then referred to the bridge as a means of absorbing Auckland’s many unemployed. The Auckland unemployment problem could be solved with a stroke of the pen, he said.

Mr. W’ilford: Will it kill the ferry service? Mr. Harris: I don’t think it will do it any good. He added that the public good had to be placed first, although the ferry service had been of great benefit to people living on the North Shore. The pomt that it would be better to spend £IO,OOO in determining the best site for the bridge rather than to find the bridge was going to cost much more than estimated because the best site had not been chosen, was made by Mr. J. S. Fletcher (Grey Lynn), who also advanced the claims of the bridge for early consideration. Mr. Fletcher did not believe the bridge would “kill’’ traffic by the ferry. In fact he thought the bridge would open up a much wider area for settlement and that there would actually be more ferry traffic than at present.