Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Monday 30 June 1902, page 3


THE NEW PYRMONT

BRIDGE.

- o

OPENED BY LADY RAWSON. AN INTERESTING CEREMONY.

SPEECH BY SIR H. H. RAWSON, K.C.B.

DISAPPEARANCE OP AN OLD LANDMARK. MEMENTOES OP THE OLD STRUCTURE. ADDRESS BY THE MINISTER POR WORKS.

The ceremony of opening the new Pyrmont Bridge was performed on Saturday morning conjointly by his Excellency Sir H H Rawson, K.C B, and Lady Rawson, in the presence of a large gathering of people. It was accompanied by several interesting incidents connected with the life history of the old bridge which has been superseded by the new struc- ture, and will shortly disappear altogether from view. The time fixed for performing the ceremony was midday, and long before that hour a large number of people assembled to witness it. In order to prevent accidents when the central swinging span was set in motion a fence was erected across the bridge about 50 yards from the swinging span, and only those specially invited by ticket were allowed by the police to pass through the gate in the fence In the centre of the swinging span a temporary platform was erected for the accommodation of the vice-regal party and some 30 guests, who were to enjoy the privilege of being the first to sit on the span whilst it opened and shut for the first time in public.

At noon his Excellency Sir H. H. Raw-son, accompanied by Lady Rawson, Miss Rawson, Master Rawson, aud Captain Watt, ADC arrived and was received on the

bridge by the Minister for Works (Mr E W O'sullivan), the Minister for Education (Mr Perry), the Minister for Mines and Agriculture (Mr Kidd),

Sir George Dibbs, Sir H N MacLaurin M D , M L C , the Mayor of Sydney (Aid Thomas Hughes) and his colleagues, a number of members of the Legislative Assembly, and public officers. A guard of honour waa furnished by the Civil Service Corps. Mr O'Sullivan, on behalf of the Citizens of Sydney, welcomed his Excellency and Lady Rawson on their arrival upon the bridge Mrs O'Sullivan then presented Lady Rawson with a handsome Bouquet of Fowers made up in spray form by Searle Brothers.

His Excellency and Lady Rawson, with the Ministerial party, having taken seats on the temporary platform erected on the swinging span, that structure was swung open and then closed again. Whilst it was opened a great crowd of people lined the yawn- ing gap that looked down into the river. It was very fortunate that the people behind, in their eager- ness to secure a good position, did not press forward. Had they done so many people would have been tumbled into the river, and perhaps on to the timbers below It was an anxious moment for the policemen who lined the gap. When the bridge swung back into its place there was a great rush on the part of the public to secure good positions around the plat-form from whence the speeches were to be delivered, and the ceremony of cutting the ribbon was to be performed by Lady Rawson. The arrangements for preserving anything like order in front of the plat- form were very bad indeed. the crowd rushed in pell mell, and even the guard of honour with fixed bayonets, a dangerous weapon in a crowd, was com-pletely helpless to keep a clear space

When something like order had been secured, Mr O'sullivan said he had great pleasure in asking Lady Rawson to cut the blue ribbon stretched across the bridge as a signal that it was open for public traffic. For that purpose Mr O'sullivan presented her Ladyship with a beautiful pair of

gold scissors from the establishment of Messrs.

Hardy Brothers. In consequence of the Minister jocularly remarking that that particular piece of ribbon would in the course of a few years, be worth £5 a yard as a memento of tho occasion, hundreds of hands grasped the ribbon, intent upon securing a piece. For a moment or two there was an unseemly struggle amongst the people, but the ribbon was partially released on Mr. O'sullivan calling out that Lady Rawson would not cut it unless it was left free. The next instant her Ladyship severed the ribbon, every particle of which disappeared in a

moment

DECLARING THE BRIDGE OPEN

His Excellency saul -Lady Rawsou having, on behalf of tho Government ot this State, performed tho ceiomony winch will formally hand over thai splendid structure to the people for a'l time, I desire to briefly refer to some particular» I have procured regarding it and the penny bridge it is to supersede As to the old structure, I am sure there are many who, although they appreciate to the ut-most all the improved facilities this new work will give, still have a feeling of regret when tiley contem-plate the domohtion ot x et another of what I might term your old landmaiks It is one that has rendered invaluable service tor many j ears to the busy throngs that have daily uced it as a means of communication with your western water suburbs , and ono upon which the demands from year to year havo becomu greater and greater, for at tho outset I do not suppose thcio wero many of those great businesses all along what j ou call Johnstone s Bay, and the other industries now on your water side in that directiou nor was thero required the great ac

commodatiou at Darling Harbour and Darling Island tor wheat, wool, and coal triftic, which is now such au absolute necessity loi your Railway Coin

mt3sioueis Thus while it is "»ooil to cherish a ' sentiment of fondness for these old connecting links with the past, present needs push on, and the inesisti

ble march of development demands attention All that increased knowledge in engineering skill, \ea, and iu every branch of science and art, must bo ob

tamed foi the advancement of that great national characteristic that has planted and kept the Britisher aud his sons at the h eui of then 01 Id-comuioices And so, as w o bid f aren oil to this old friend, who has served vou so faithfully, and hears tho highest ti stuuouy to the durability of that splendid hardwood of j ours, ironbark, wo might » eil give a few historical facts Constiucted by a private company at a cost, it is stated, ot £7 >,8JU it was opened for traffic on St Patuck's Day, 1807, and was retained by tho couipnny up till 1881, when it w us purchased by the Govcrnmi ut under the Pyrmont Bndgo Act for tho sum of £49,(,00, and with tlus acquisition carno tho boon of free access by tho people, for the tolls which had hitherto been charged wero then abolished Seven years later it was feared that the crisis of its life was apjiroachiug, and a decisiou was then ar

rived at, I understand, to mvito competitive de-

signs from every pait ot the world, for a bridge to bo erected upon tho site on which this now one now stands Numerous schemes w ere íeceivcd, and upun adjudication premiums amounting to i, 1000 were awarded by tho Advising Board of Lngineers

the first premiated design being one foi a steel bridge, estimated to cost ¿29 ,,70U No further action was taken, however, until eurly ni 18J1, when the question of the removal of the old bndgo and the construction in its place of certain othei means of conmimicutiou wa' referred by jourPaibamcnt to the Parliamentary ¡a'tindiug Committee on Public Works, for íuquiry aud report After two inquines extending over mau} weeks, duung which time I am informed no less than 2b schemes were under eonsideiation, the committee ul-timately decided in favour of the design lor the bralga which has pist been completed It should bo explained just hero, though, that as the first premiatcd design onlv illowed tor a road-way on the swing span of 18ft, and two fairnavs tor shipping of 00ft i ach, it was decided by your Pub-lic Works Department to submit tho dcsigit now earned out, which is entirely difleront ni that the thiotUmg of tho load IrauV has b oa avoided bv making the roadway on the swing span tim same width as that on the rest ol the bridge, namely, 54tt Piovisiou was also nude for two fairway s of 70ft ni order to better meet the tendency nowadays to increase the beam of vessels, and this also gives the additional advmtage of allow ingall vessels to pass through molo quicMv whilo a ltirther iraprovo ment, as couipart d with the ol j structure is given by the building ol the other spans with a ho ulwuy ol 2(.it above high water, as against the bit avail-able pri viously Thus jour vehicular and pedestrian trafile m retarded but a minimum of time while the most liberal piovision is made tor your shipping in-terests lu passing ou I should just like to meution a few tacts that have interested mo considerably in connection with the swing spun Dealing with its floor spice, the mea of 12,000 superficial feet com-pares more than favom ibly with the 10,1100ft of

the Ncwcastle-on- lyne bridge swing, the 0400ft of, the swing of the budge m connection with the Man-chester ship c mai, and the 8700ft of tho swing in tho bridge at Himardpu As to other matters, whilst I behevo thero aro larger swings in American bndges, vi it is doubtful it at the present timo there aro any in tho world moio up-to-dalo in rogan! to equipment for lil the case of the bndgo ne aro now opening the slowing , of the swing, the lifting of the ends the operating! of the gates, and the lighting of tim loadwivnie all donn by electricity controlled by one man st itioned in the «mall conning towoi yondsi What a great lesson this teaches us all in progression, when we lonstdei this hugo smug, »orno 223ft long, and weighing BOO tons, opened oi closed ni a space, I am given to understand, of 11 seconds, simplv bva mau pressing a button Comparo it with tho eiiinbcrsomo and tedious method ot hnndpovvor, as exists in the old budge alongside and we aie biought faco to f tee with auothor gieat oi. implç ' of hum in progics), and, considered ni au economic light, think what a snving it is of what I suppose is counted, certainly by your business men, as perhaps the most precious commodity ol tho human mcotu daj-I mean tune On every hand no turu wo see tho most strenuous efforts made to save even a little of this most precious thing to mau , on our largo steamships, the Atlantic Inicie, for in-stance, the shortening of the trips by minutos even counts on our railways, too, whoro water is picked up while the tram liles on at unslackencd speed And so we might oumnernto ovcrythmg that saves oven a httlo timu ns an achievement, and I would thus con-gratulate jon ni this respect on outlining such i marked i-nproveiccnt on what lins hitherto obtained But all this has onlj been got by the powor of men's brains and their cupicity for work, and von must havo men in your midst in connection with your public department« who have shown they are possessed of these qualifications to no mean extent, else you could uevor havo the architectural aud cnginoonug triumphs which I, but so short'y in Sydney, havo Rceu so many line oxauiplos of sinco my arrival In concluding, thors is pist one othor compunson I .mould liko to make Doubtless many i of you have seen the groat lower Bridge of London,

and auch of you os h i\ o not havo hoard o£ it woll, the roadway ol your bndgo awuy out hero ia Sj daey is 4ft. w mor than its roadway, anil will, thoroforo, giro moro traffic far-ilities than that celebrated structure I can only rtdd that I smcerolv trust the progress windi hits roniloicd tho construction of such abridge ni this imperative may ho continued to s,ou (Cheers ) I now dellaro this bndgo open lor tho use of thu public

Afte" the cltccis of Hie people had subsided,

His Excllency said lionas sum that ill présent lcgrettcd the dine« of the King, and ho wits ccrtnm that ivcryono woull join in nu earnest prujeriur tile King's roturn to hcilth (Cheors )

At the oil of his I xcellcucv foi cheeis foi tho King they were given with great heartiness Cheers were also gis cn for tho irchitect and cugineor3 who deigned and built tho bridge and finally cheers «ero giveu foi tht Uo\enioi and Lady

Eawsou

SPEECH BY THE MIMSTElt TUR WORKS

Ihe Minister for Works (Mr E W O'bullnan)

on coming lorn ard to address tho assemblage., was roceivcd with heartv applause Ho said -"Those of us present who know tho locality uudor tho old conditions, and I suppose most of us did with tho suraewhat awkward approaches, the crimped thoroughfuio tor the continuous stream of vehicles that crossed tho old bndgo, tht dungers pedes-trians ian, and tho Mirations delavs that occurred when the swing had to be opened, will bo ready to appreciate to tho full all the. moro expeditious inulities and conveniences modern oiigmcuaug skill has placed at our disposal And, us wo viuw tho (me broad anti direct approaches, w e must be reminded of thoso wiso men who effe ctod chauges in the coniiguratiou ol gie it cities, such as Birmingham, and «ho thus mude themselves bouotuctois to tho dwellers m 3tich places for all time No wild dream of works simply foi elecoritivepuiposcs, but good solid ones of permanent improvement fliese uto what we desire to lcavo bchiud Mr J II Youn_r Htt3 tho Minister who proposed and legalised the work, but I carried it out ruining moro pirticularly to the bntlgo itself, from press statements I have lead from timo to time I havo learnt that the. result we now have before us has not been brought about without rousuUruólo anxiety and caio on the pait of those inline liatcly lesponsiblo tor the construction We lit c in the. trmu of " iccorels," records for oerytuin^, c\on for talking aud the elutalioii of our Faibaraentary sessions, hut in tho casa I utitv refei to it is foi cybndci sinking Naturally, tho part of the bridge win re the mechanism is situated interests us most

and this is m count ction with the swing span A pivot has baa to bo built for this monster of MIO tons to bo sent louud on bt eloctrieitv, which involted tho sinking of a caisson, the largest put down m this hemisphere, no less than 12ft m diamoter, with a depth of bift from what is known as tho " eutting edge " winch goes uwaj down into tho bed of tho harbour, to tho rim fiom wlueb point tho uiiisoiiiy we eau see rises And tho total weight of tlus pivot pier, the cylinder being filled solid with con-creto and blocks of stone, is estimated at G8U0 tons , so it therouto anj master mariners present who occasionally como through tho bridge span, I would ntl vue them not to attempt to shift the ]inot with their vessels, for the\ will lind it pretty tight on its scat (.Laughter ) Apart fiom tim swing span there uro 12 other spans, each about 82ft in length, and while the material m tho swing span is iron, theso others are constructed of what wo c ill tho king of woods-our AusLraliau ironbark Reference has boen mado often to ita martelions durability, hut I would just like to men tion an incident that occurred in connection with the old bridge One of the piles had to bo remove 1, and after it had been drawn up it wau sawn in two at thu section situated it tho spot most hablo to destruction, namely, between thu tides, when, despito tho faet that it had boon in position for a period of 4o jo ira, it was found to havo deteriorated little., if anything, lieing stall serviceable Tho total lengthjof bridging is about 400 yards, and, including tho appro tolles, the distance from end to cn J is 68b j arila ¡speaking of the old bridge one is reminded of some of the incidents connected with its life, moro particularly tho ono ra 1881, when our friend JSir George Dibbs took possession of it from the private conip my w hieh had previously owned it A re-ference to the " Sydiiej Morning Herald" of August 1 in that yeal will re tall tho display that accompanied this tul.iug ovci, and from that timo onward tho people havo oniovod the right of free access without any burden ot toilage and the relief that this afforded muy to aomo extant bo realised when it is mentioned that for the fow years previous tlio bridge company's secretary stated that tolls had vauoil between X WOO and £10,0110 per annum Oiigumlly competitive designs for tlio work were invited, and the uno which

was awarded the hrsl premium, auel provided

foi steel construction throughout, was I'stimated to cost Í¿J>,'Ü0 Ino total cost of the nowl\ coniplotcel ttructttie, which was designed entirely in the Winks Department und provides, as w e eui see for a full » ldtb roadw a) from end to end lustead of narro ving it at tho swing span as w ts propose I lu the design lustallueled to, is set down ttiH2,"i00 , and it is well to mention that »wing to the Darling Harbour resumptions and the necessity lor giving u road right round tie foreshore, the Sydney ap-proach as designed aud as carried out is somewhat diflorent Provision for tlio load, however, has lieeu duly mude, so that now the bridge will not interforu m uny way with the scheme of w hieb this roadway forms u. part The estimated hie ot the bridge is set down at iO years, and it is interesting lust to conieeture what improvements uni) take place in andnrouud this portlou of the city by the expiry of that time Ono can only hope that the progress anti develop ment that havo taken place hero in tho past 60 years, and in all the htates, despito our bad soasons, and winch have mado works of tins kind necessary, reny continue, and as the demands come the men will bo foi nil who will carry out tile works I might say the designer ni this instance, Mi Percy Allan, M Inst C E , ts an Australian and lus work proves that tho native-born are gmng cviilencu of high ability in every department ot engineering, as they have already eloiic ni science, art, literature, mu«ic, I

?vocalisation, and sports (Cneeis )

DLSCRIPTION Or THE BRIDGE

The Alinistor for Works proceeded to givo au I interesting description of the ope rations connected n ith tho construction of the bnugc lu the course of lus speech he said -The initial operations in connection with th«- work now completed wore* performed on September b, lSW when I laid tim foundation-stone of the abutments, and drove one of the main pile» It w as determined ut the onset not to let tho work in one entire contract, but to divide it into thrco sections, mainly with the object of securing wider competition tor tho respective classes of work, j o , tmiber spans, pivot and swing span, und masonry. &.c , in connection with the abutments The whole, howe vcr, has tiLcu earned on simul-taneously, w ith the result that considerable expe-dition bus taken place m completion No 1 con-tract was let to Messrs Parley and M'Carthj, and covered the construction of the abutments, tho re-taining walls, and embanked approaches on the Sydney and Pyrmont sides of the harbour The abutments and northern retaining walls are built of concrete faced with rock-laced luasourvaud with pilasters, string courses weatherings, and balustrades of chiselled and rubbed sandstone, while tho southern lctuimng walls, being little exposed, have been built entirely of concictc Some 2 IO piles had to be driven iu connection with the Sydney side, the natura of the formation being made groutid, and consequently not sulbcicntlj secure, but on tho Pyrmont side the foundations havo boon carried to the rock, although some diuiculty has beou met with on a portion of tho abutments, but this was succeastull} dealt with Consequeut on the desire

ot the Harbour Trust to bava a roadnav round the foreshore, net piovided for ni thu design originally, as tho resumptions had not then taken place, some alterations were necessary at tho sydney approach, and these were earned out by ilay laboui ContinctNo 2, »Inch lins been carried out by Mr M'Olure, includes tho timbci side spans between the abutments and each end of the swing span Ihesear6l2u number, ann arc formed of 72 timber trusses, six in each upan, Stt deep, «paced

I ft aput between the four central and 10ft 'un apart between ti o two outei trusses Thero me 22 piles dru on into the solid bed of thu barbour, ni some entes to ,Jft below low wntei matk, in each ol' tho 10 timber piers, and these piles, shcatlu d with Munt/ metal, aio rigidly biaced and stiuened Contract No , was in the hands ot Messrs J

M'CormicV and Sous, and provided loi tho swing span, jnvot piei, lost juers, and piotcctiug plat-forms It is in connection with this contract that tho moro intricate pait ol the whole of tho work lias been found, the sinking of tho caisson, of which par-ticulars havo appeared in the press from time to time, being a feat of engineering skill, anil reflecting the highest credit ahko on the suporvisuig engineor (Mt Pcicy All tu) and his utan* und tho contractors the huge chamber foi it luis a diameter of 4211, was first started ou August 2, 1U0O, and bv October 29 sufficient of it had beou cumplotcd to pu mit of ita being gioundcd, by means of girdeis and wedges in the position it is to now permanently occupy iu the bed of the harboui Ihcmt had to he irndually worked don li to a depth ol 4dft below Ion water mark at which point the cutting i tig« touched^ock on one side, when aftei tho necessary damming the chambi r w is pumped out Excavation was then carried on in the " dry ' until a " blow " occurred, when the tedious process of excavation with the

water ni the chamber had to bo resorted to Ultimitcly the work was satislaetonty c ompleted the

caisson being poised with tile mcevst accuracy 1 ilhtig

operations then proceeded, and it is now a solid block of concreto and stone As moHt ol you aro aware, tho motivo powei tor working thu swing span is electricity, supplied irom the Ultimo Power-house This is a very decided im-provement on th" old method Both thu slowing and the lift motors an, ca-riod on a platform inside the Jrtim, the tonner working through a train ol gears a vertical shaft, on the Inner end of windi is a caststeel pillion raesluug, with ii custsteel rack secured to tho top of a pivot pier, whilst thu end lilt is effected hy means ot cones on horizontal »liait» worked hy a io horsepower moloi gearing on to a longitudinal shaft running tho whola length of the bridge ilia total length ot thu budging is liOOtt, the swing »pan is 22 111, wlulo tho cutuc length of tho wolli from the end of the byduey anproach to the end of that of Pyrmont me is u res some 58Q yards It is anticipated tile cost of the woik, wiien every-thing is fixed, will bo about ¿I 12,000 Hie design waa olio submitted by the department when the Public Works Committee wero inquiring into the projiosal, and was selected out of some 2b schemes considered Onirinally competitivo designs were united, and the design that seturcd th, first pre-mium was estimated to cost ¿2')j,7U0, but this prov ided for steel construction throughout 1 he greatest attuntiou has been paid in avery rcsjicct to make tho work as complete as possible, the sluppiug interests having been studied by tho piovisiou of two 70ft fairways aud a 2bft headway ahovo high water mark under tho fixed spans, while a full roadway has boon provided from end to omi, and a quickly open-ing and closing span for tho benefit of vehicular and pedestrian tiaitic ' (Loud cheers )

It only remains to be said that thu bndgo was designed] by and constructed under Mr Pcrcv

I Allan, M Inst 0 E , one of the engineers of tho Public Works Department, who had the privilegu in tho earlier stages of tho work of con-sulting with Mr C Vi Darley, M Inst O E , thon Engiueer-ui Chief for Public Works, and Mr O Brom, Chiuf Electric Engineer for Kaiiwajs Ia tlio construction of the work he had the benefit of tlio expenenco of the present Commissioner and Eugincer foi Roads and Budge«, Mr W J Hanna Mr Boswell was tho assistant out,incci and Mi 1'liackrnt the mspectoi on tho works. Messrs Farley and McCarthy were the contractors for the original ap

proaches, the extension of the Sydney approach having been carried out by the department by day labour. The fixed spans on either side of swing span were earned out miller contract by Mr C M'Clure The swing span, pwot pier, re3t piers, aud protecting platforms wero earned out b\ Messrs T M'Corauck and bon Hhdsttbu electri equipment had b°ou supplied by nnd installed h\ tho Australian General LltctncCompany the whole of tim contractors, including Air R C JolTcott tho electrical cngiueei

personally directed operations, tt> which is largely (Ino the fact that thu work has been earned out satisfactorily and without loss of life

PRESLN1A1IONS

Sa George Dibbs said that he took, it us a great honjnr that he hail been invited to speak ou that occisión Ile was uno of thu first to trass the old bridge after its opening Ho had listened with great pleasure to the speech of tho Oovcrutii Ho could roracnibcr tho head of that bay w lion theie was not a houso on it and there were nothing but grassy Biopcs lunuuig elown to tho water's edge Ho re-membered (ho opening of the old bridge by Go-vernor Denisou, because it was the day before his marriage (Cheors ) When ho looked nt Pjimont no» and rememberc 1 w hat it w tus in tlio days of his boyhood, ho realised the munellous transfor-mation that had talton place Iho state of pre-servation ni which the logs of tho old bndge were found showed that the timbers of New South

Wales were second to none in the wor'd (Cheers) He desired to present to L uly Rawson, Mrs O Sulli-van, mil Mr O Sullivan some mementoes made

from the timber

Sir Georco Dibbs then inado the presentations Hut to Lud} Hawson consisted of a viso turned b\ lum from one ot the piles of the old bridge It w na mounted in silver, and bore ona silver plato the inscription - ' Lady Rawson A uicmonto of tho

opening of the Ptnnont Bridge Made lrom al piueof tho old brielge Tune 28th, 1902 " llmt made to Mrs E W O Sullivan by btr George Dibbs was a cup turned from the s une pile It was also mounted in siU or, und bore tho inscription - Mrs L W O'Sulhvun, from G It D " A wooden cup ot a different de-sign was ulso »resented by bil George Dibbs to the Minister for Works

Ml O bullirán, in acknowledging tho presenta

tions mado to bun and Mrs O'sullivan said that ou every 23th of Tuno ho would fill the cup with colonial wmo and drink tho health of SirGoorgo Dibbs (Lau0hter ^

Mr Samuel Smith, on bohalf of the electors of Pyrmont, presented to tho Munster a pair of gold spectacles binriiig tho lnscrinttou - ' Presented to tho Hou B W O Sullivan, Muustor for »Vorks in honour of tho opening of tho Pyrmont Bndge, ¿8th

June 1002 .

Mr O Sullivan ni a few words acknowledged the

eomphmeut

Mi Power, MX A then presented to Mrs O'sullivan, on behalf of tho subsenbors, it beautiful diamond pendant Ho hoped that m a few years tho bndgo would connect the City of by dnoy with the Cit\ ofPjrmont (Cheers) He congratulate 1 tho citizens of West bj duet und of Pyrmont on thu completion of tho bridge

Mi O Sullivan briefly acknowledged the presenta-

tion on behalf of his wife

OTHER SPEECHES.

Mr. Henry Clarke, M.L.A., tho " Father of the Assembly," was then called upon. He saul he liad beeu a resident of Sydney for nearly bl years. When lie landed here "fcyrmont was a grass-grown slopo with only about half a dozen houses, so that the progress made wits strongly borne in upon him that du}. He had much pleasure ni being present.

i'ho May or of Sydney (Aldorman Hughes) said ho only wished to say a len n ords to congratulate then energetic Mnustei for Works upon the completion of that magnificent strucfuie. Ho also congratulated lum on the fact that an Australian had carried out thu work. He was glad that tho tuno had conic when Australians wero getting a Lchanco ni their own country (Cheers.)

Mi Power. M L A. (West Sydney), congratulated the Munster tor Woiks on being (ino of the most energetic men they had, and lie congratulated the people on thu completion of such te magnificent bridge

Mi, Broughton, M.L.A., saul that thev gave overy credit to the engineers, but tiley must not forget tho credit duo to the workers who were primarily re-sponsibly for the building of tlio bridge. (Cheers.)

Mr. D O'Counoi, M.L.A , proposed a \otci of

thanks to the Govcruoi.

This was carried amid enthusiastic cheering foi Sir Han j- and Lady Rawson.

His Iixcollency, in leplj'ing, said ho wished o very prosperity for "New South Wales. Ho was very proud that ho had beou selected by his Majesty to represent lum here, and the longer ho stayed bore tho moro fortunate he thought himself m having his lines cost in such pleasant places.

The vice-regal party then drove across the bridge, accompanied by the guard of honour, and followed by members of Parliament and otheis.

Tins ended the function.