Completion
p. 25 · Read in the full issue
Spanning Toutouta
River
New Caledonian Bridge Nears Completion
From Our Own Correspondent.
Bouloupari, Oct. 1.
BEFORE the end of the year the muchneeded bridge across Toutouta River will be completed. It was commenced in August, 1933, and is expected to be quite finished in November of this year.
On several occasions all work was held up by floods, and a considerable amount of material was washed away. When the river rises four or five inches the punt is unable to cross, and all traffic is held up, sometimes for many days.
On one occasion when a party of resi dents were returning from Noumea in the service car the river was high and run ning very strongly, and when the coach ran onto the punt the passengers alighted. But before the punt had reached midstream it dipped strongly on the side of the cable and the water rushed in, swirling about the pas
sengers’ waists. At the critical moment, fortunately, the cable snapped and the punt calmly glided down stream into a little backwash, where a small dingy from the nearby hotel took off a few passengers at a time and deposited them on the other side of the river where another ser vice car was waiting.
The new bridge is shown in the accom panying photograph.
The work was prac tically complete when the picture was made, in September.