THE WANGANUI CHRONICLE AND RANGITIKEI MESSENGER. “Verine sans peur." WANGANUI, OCT. 24, 1861.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 5, Issue 265, 24 October 1861, Page 2

THE WANGANUI CHRONICLE AND RANGITIKEI MESSENGER. “ Verine sans peur." WANGANUI, OCT. 24, 1861.

The European Mail of 26th August has arrived at Otago from Melbourne, and the news-received has been brought up by the Wonga Wonga to Wellington, thus arriving here in 58 days from London—an unprecedentedly short time. The most important news will be found elsewhere.

The expected visit of liis Honor the Superintendent ought to be turned to as good account as possible,’by'directing his attention to the improvements which are. required in the locality, and enlisting his aid on their behalf. The enumeration of what is necessary to be done may call the attention of the inhabitants to the subject, and induce ; them ■; to use their influence with the'Superintendent for the obtaining of what has been. in some cases' long wished for, but seems as far off as e\ er. ; I. There is theWangaelm bridge. The settlers both north and south of the Wangaehu -have,; jbeen singularly tranqiiil. in respect .to th£ delay in the reconstruction of. this 1 bridge, considering . the ;great : inconvenience, expence, and loss which have been occasioned to them, last; eight months, by the interruption’ of ' the ( communication between this town aiid the most important agricultural district in ite neighbourhood. The settlors in Bah*

gitiic'ci affit TUraHim-iMjr lie iiimbSt said td iave tost &• iiiarkdt fcffi tlieir The-exti-a expence and the! great delay occasioned by the present mode of transit take away the profit to which, they looked as the recoinpence of their year’s toils and cares, and thus it" has become a matter of indifference to them whether or not ■'they-cultivate mbre than- is necessary for their own sustenance. The bridge was carried away on the 13th February. The acting Provincial Engineer was on the spot on the same day, and, any person of common intelligence would"' have been .liable to the suspicion of, having- lost his wits if he had hinted that tenders for the repair of the damage would not be advertised for within a month. /But what period really elapsed before this was done ? Five months and twelve days. . It was not till the 25th July that information was given to the public that plans had been preparedj and that tenders would be received for the reconstruction of the bridge. The. intelligence from, the Otago gold diggings was then creating a ferment, which made even the' most sober-minded artizaiis indisposed, to take upon them a heavy work, with,the probability of finding it difficult to obtain labour at even extravagant rates of so only .one tender was received, and that being much above the sum voted for the purpose at-the last meeting of Council could not be accepted. Another advertisement was put forth with the same result —and there the matter now rests. Some of our mechanics who. went off to the diggings have returned, or are intending to,return, and there is some likelihood of: getting the work, done for less. And as it is of the utmost importance that it be done speedily—the amount paid for ferryage would have gone a'" considerable way towards it—let the timber suitable for the purpose which was intended for the Whnganui bridge be taken for it, and thus let no delay arising from any difficulty in cutting and carting materials , bo .experienced,' "We_would recommend the 3swigitikei and .Turakina settlers to send in one or two of their number as a deputation, to, lay their views on the subject before the Superintendent when here, and to impress upon him the desirableness of there being no further 'delay in restoring the communication. And if such a deputation bring with them a Memorial to that effect, numerously signed by their feUow-settl'ers ? their representations will no doubt be immediately attended to. 11. TbereTsthe Wanganui Ferry. This is not the time to speak, of a bridge. Let us not lose a possible p-esent good in the pursuit of what may be greatly desirable, but seems not to be immediately attainable. It is. evident that our engineers do not yet know how to build bridges in adaptation to the circumstances of the country. The bridges at the Hkitt and the Turakina may be,, given as present instances. The latter has : been considered'as a remarkably well-btiilt viaduct, yet within two years of its being opened an expensive repair must be gone into. Let us not. then throw away money on a bridge until we have some certainty of its being a suitable one. To a, pontoon bridge, indeed, there is no..such objection. But then it is so simple a construction that it gives no scope for the. - display of genius, and so does not meet the approbation of our,bridge builders, either amateur or professional. At least, that is the only explanation of such an obvious plan, not having been., acted : on that we can conjure up. But if there is tojhe no bridge, let there be a properly- wrought ferry. At present the ferry is let without any rent being, paid to the Government. The, rates have been lowered so as to meet merely the current expellees. There is thus no fund arising from it available for improvements or repairs. The provincial treasury must be opened for this purpose. Nor can there be any reasonably.objection to an appropriation, for an object which is not only local, but national. There is, indeed, another source from which such funds may be obtained. There is a large sum dying:* in a banker’s hands in London, set apart forthe building of the Wanganui bridge.. The interest of this sum might be applied to. the, maintenance of the Ferry in a proper condition. It is scarcely necessary to point out what is necessary to make it a convenient and. cheap ferry. There, must be easy access to it J there, must he convenient landing stages ] there must be. a mechanical means of sending the boat across, sp as to avoid the delay aud - danger .occasioned by. rowing. There can be little difficulty in fulfilling these - conditions satisfactorily, and were they the want of a bridge would not pe.much. felt. Supposing such a ferry to answer., as. a, substitute for a bridge for a few years, it would be a pity that the money appropriated J for, the bridge should lie in. London yielding only 2 to 3 per cent., when, if lent out on good security at either, end,of the bridge.which it is intended to, construct, : it. would yield - 10 per cent., and the interest, if not expended, would very soon amount ; to_ sy.ch a sum, as, added to the. principal, _woulcV effect the object, without the sale of the town reserve, without trenching further on Provincial funds, and without requiring; a heavy pontage to be levied after the bridge is constructed. We take the. liberty of suggesting, that the inhabitants take the opportunity of impressing, on lus Honour , the necessity of having a, good ferry on. the river without delay. . : : TIL .There is the. Tpwn BelL . This valuable piece of. land ,has, unproductive. There, are in it 387 I/and belonging to. the; Industrial Schpol, not hearer the town, is let at a yearly rent of. -1 Os- per acre.. , Here, then is a sourhe from which an annual revenue .pf ,£IOO to .£l5O might be .easily drawn, which would lie available for . tbe ; improvement and embellishment of the, town. This land is at present we presume vested in the Superintendent,-and.

, . we would ,suggest, that he be; asked to hand over the management of the ground, with, -power to let it on. leases of such length as ■ may be deemed , expedient, and to apply the rents to certain purposes', in N connexion - with the town, which may be 'J; , ; Or, if this ground ,is torbe kept 4is,’a;place . for, recreation, let some understanding be come to as to the extent to .be used for ; this purpose,-hut let it be, leased free of rent that it may be brought under cultivation, and prepared for being laid'Out W accordance' with the object in view. ’We are aSvare that on this subject being, brought: undcr .tlie Superintend- , .... Rent’s notice when he .was last herej he proposed that a Crown Grant should be applied for,-and that on its being obtained he would hand oyer the ground to trustees. If the Crown Grant has been ob--1 tained, this further step’ may now be taken ; but if not, it is clesirable that the subject," should be .revived, the; more .especially as. the gentlemen interested in racing are ... in'--the , field, desirous of t , obtaining 'the : control of part of this ' ; ground until ; such trustees are appointed. IY, There is tfie > River Embankment. It will be remembered , voted-in -...last---session—'Jof-.-thb ,jix>vinoi«.l- ------‘ Lkmncil tor".this work. '; This is a' very 1 small sum indeed for such an undertak- ' ing, Whether its "difficulty or its’’great''im- ; , portance be considered. The Superiu,tendent will lio doubt be ready to recommend the doubling or trebling of this sum should the jilan adopted be found , effectual in shopping the encroachments of the river ; and we would recommend that fie should be spoken to on the sub- * ject, .and that he should be"asked to hand over ,to the committee some of the piles ; intended for the bridge, which are now 1 lying in, or on the banks of the, river.

\ V. There is the Town Reserve, on the left .bank. There is. at present a demand in the town for building sites, which apparently cannot' be met. If a proper ferry Were established, the ground on the other side would he very useful as sites for dwelling houses, and would no doubt let readily for this purpose on reasonably long leases, and thus add considerably to the revenues of the town,. It has been proposed to apply the proceeds of the sale of this ground to . the building of the bridge. ; Supposing that the inhabitants are willing that this should be done, there will be no difficulty, should tiie ground be, let, to \ raise as much 1 on the annual income as; would be obtained by its sale ; so that the leasing of the ground would by no means delay the construction of the; bridge, should that undertaking be gone into before the leases expire. : VI. There is the Market. The committee appointed some time ago; wil 1 no doubt .wait on the Superintendent, and obtain some assistance in the carrying out of their laudable project. : These seem to us the 'principal matters to which,his Honor’s; attention should be specially called by the inhabitants. If a meeting wore called and a committee appointed to coragnunicate with him on his arrival, these and any other matters which it might be considered advisable to lay before him would no doubt meet with his favourable attention, :