THE BRIDGES.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume V, Issue 667, 3 October 1891, Page 2

THE BRIDGES.

THE decision arrived at in connection with the Taruheru footbridge was received yesterday. The apportionment is a very fair one, and the quession that will now be asked is whether a like arrangement cannot be made for the maintenance of the other bridges. The Borough Council is given the maintenance of the bridge, but under a very different arrangement from formerly, when as often as the bridge was damaged, Borough ratepayers —some of whom actually suffer a loss by the existence of the bridge—were called on to make good the damage, even with the vexation of having to leave roads in a wretched condition for the want of funds to repair them. The arrangement now enforced as to the shares to be contributed towards the cost of erection is—

Borough Council—two-sixths. Harbor Board—two-sixths. Cook County Council—one-sixth. Whataupoko Road Board—one-sixth. The one-sided arrangement of the past had of course gone too far to be continued. There will probably be objection to the new arrangement by the bodies newly called on to contribute, just as there is always abjection to the payment of anything that can be put on other shoulders. It is well enough to say that the Harbor Board is a body representing tha same ratepayers as the Councils, but if that body had before now been compelled to pay a portion of the cost of the bridges it is certain that it would not so jauntily let sites as it was prepared to do in the case of the one above the bridge, in occupation of a business firm, Only the strong agitation got up prevented the site being leased, and the firm given the privilege, for the sake of a few pounds a year, to put the people to a great inconvenience. Since then we are glad to see—or perhaps in the experience that has been gained we should express our sympathies—that the public have awakened to the seriousness of the cost that might be incurred by the Board grasping at a pound or two, in defiance of the Wishes of the town residents. If the Board has to pay a share pf the cost entailed by the bridges it is certain more care will be exercised. It has been urged against the footbridge that it is a luxury. The same cannot be said against the two cart bridges. We should very much like to see the Board made to share the expense entailed by them—-It would make members feel the weight of their responsibility In this matter.

IN a recent speech Mr Gladstone said he considered the liquor system a national calamity. This statement is In no way original, though it Is sufficiently true te be unpleasant.

ON Tuesday the Waihora left Wellingon for Sydney with 132 passengers, and the Jubilee with 80. The New Zealand rimes mentions that when people can go th Sydney for /a 10s saloon, and £1 steerage, it is cheaper to travel than to stay at home. Nowadays it costs less to go from Wellington to Sydney than from Gisborne to Napier. No wonder the exodus keeps up,

Lord Tennyson is evidently going to risk his reputation. He has written a comedy, in which the leading part is intended for Miss Ada Rehan, the American actress. Mr Daly, manager of the company to which she belongs, has bought the piece. Tennyson would Berhaps be wiser to take a back seat while lilbert and Sullivan are alive to give us more of their comic operas.

Poverty Bay farmers should note the following paragraph :—There is expected to be a considerable falling off in the extent of the area under potatoes in the Oamaru district this year. Usually between 3000 and 4000 acres are planted, but this season the area is not expected to exceed 1500 acres. Potatoes have for several years past been anything but a profitable crop, and the prospects for wheat are remarkably rosy, so that the difference is accounted fot.