PORTINSCALE BRIDGE.
[To TEE EDIT011 OF TKO " SPIICTATOB."]
Sra,—The courtesy and common sense of the Council prevailed last week, and the question of building a new bridge at the cost of £4,000, instead of grouting the present structure and improving its gradient, was referred back until a local inquiry has been held. This decision went much against the grain of the Highway Committee, who declared that they had quite made up their minds on the matter, and that no further inquiry could alter them. They protested that such delay would only increase the agitation through the Press in favour of saving the old bridge. They might have added in saving also the charm of the district and the pockets of the rate- payers. The protagonist for the new bridge went out of his way to suggest that those who, from an artistic point of view, desired to save the bridge were not, perhaps, of the most importance to the county, and brought a charge against them that their object was to make Keswick and district the play- ground of the north of England, and that they were opposed to the industrial development of the neighbourhood. It was a foolish charge because, as one of the Councillors pointedout, Keswick gets its living by being the playground of England. My object in writing to you is to proteit against the subsequent resolutions of the Council, to whom I am grateful for having deferred a decision of the matter, that at the adjourned local inquiry experts should not be allowed a hear- ing, and that the evidence of visitors who are not Cumberland ratepayers should be ruled out of court. Shoals of letters from all parts of Britain had been received; an urgent tele- gram was sent by Mr. Francis Fox, the engineer, stating that the fact of there being some wood in the foundations of the old bridge in no way interfered, as had been rumoured, with the efficiency of the grouting process ; that both at Winchester Cathedral, Hull Church, and the Brig of Ayr such wood was present and removed and replaced with stone. Further, there would be no difficulty in recessing the parapet above the cut- water of the central pier and abutment for the convenience of foot passengers if so desired; he much regretted that the Highway Committee had not tested the Grange Bridge which he had grouted, and he urged that, in justice to him- self, this should be done. He cannot now by the Council's decision appear in person at the inquiry. But the most unfortunate feature of the resolution of the Council was that, notwithstanding that it has been proved up to the hilt that a large outside public care intensely to save the bridge, they also will be debarred from being present unless they are Cumberland ratepayers. It is this public who, by coming into the district because of the charm of its scenery, of which this venerable old Portinscale Bridge is a part, enable the district largely to get its livelihood, and by leaving its money at Keswick indirectly benefits the whole county by the fact of that money's circulation. I have no alternative but to urge all those who frequent the district outside the county to let me know by letter or postcard what their feeling is on the matter, especially if they have stayed at Portinscale, at the hotel or in lodgings, for such a time as to be able to speak from experience of the bridge and its capacity
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