EXCELLENCE OF KAURI

Taranaki Daily News, 7 November 1930, Page 9

EXCELLENCE OF KAURI

timber in old bridge. WONDERFUL PRESERVATION. The.,old Hurunui Bridge, leading to .the Cheviot' Estate, and now being dismantled, was built in the year 1869 by Mr. William Robinson, the then owner of Cheviot, at his own expense. Subsequently, however, the Government • took it over arid compensated Mr. Robinson with a grant of 900 acres of land in the vicinity of the river, states the Christchurch Times. On the completion of the new bridge the County Council disposed of the old structure by tender for a sum of about £5O to Messrs. Hyde Bros., sons of one of the first Government settlers on the Cheviot Estate. The speculation has turned out to be a remarkably profitable one. to the successful tenderers. ' The work of dismantling the budge had not proceeded very far before it was discovered that the whole of it excepting the piles and decking was constructed of kauri timber in a wonderfully good state of preservation. The irfln work, too, was found to be of superior quality and showing very little corrosion. The whole structure was, in ■fact, a typical example of the thoroughness with which Mr. Robinson carried out any construction work lie undertook. The kauri in the bridge exceeded 3’5,000 superficial feet, and when Messrs. Hyde Brothers’ find became known to builders and others in need of wellseasoned timber of the kind, no difficulty was experienced in disposing of it. One well-known Christchurch firm of machinery manufacturers secured a considerable quantity of the timber for the construction of largo churns foi dairy factories. The iron work, too, found a ready sale, and when a final clearance of the hardwood decking is made Messrs-. Hyde Brothers should have a return running well into four