OBJECTIONS TO THE BUILDING OF A PIER
This morning the Torquay Local Board decided to continue their opposition to the proposed promenade pier. It is not probable, however, that they will be able, ultimately, to defeat the object of the promoters. Several members object that the pier will be a great eyesore to the town, and that it will be the refuge of all the immorality of the neighbourhood. But that is not the experience of anyone who has had much to do with piers in other towns. It is not even the experience in respect to Paignton Pier, where so many people go from Torquay for the promenading which the pier affords. Nor have the Board anything to do with the question as to whether the proposed pier will pay. That is the business of the company. It is not likely that the bankers referred to at the meeting this morning would advance a large sum of money unless they had substantial security and a firm belief that the Pier would pay a dividend ; and it is no more likely also that the promoters would involve themselves in an expenditure of half the estimated cost of the Pier, if they had no intention, as several members appeared to believe, of carrying it to a successful issue. Unquestionably the Pier would be for the benefit of the town, for though excursions would not come from Bristol, as the CHAIRMAN stated this morning, for the sole purpose of walking on the Pier, it would be an attraction unlikely to induce them to make a long journey. As the matter now stands, the fate of the undertaking is in the hands of the Board of Trade, and, for the good of the town at large, we bore it will be decided in favour of the promotors.
