THE TRAMWAYS.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19161, 18 November 1927, Page 10

THE TRAMWAYS.

«A BIG UNDERTAKING."

CANDIDATES' ADDRESSES

Pour of the candidates of the Citizens' Association for the Christehurch Tramway Board explained its platform last evening in the Chamber of Commerce Hall.

Mr W. J. Sim presided over a fair attendance. He said the object of the Association was to interest as manypeople as possible, and to give those attending an opportunity to join in the discussion. Mr J. A. Flesher said the tramway undertaking was a very large one, having three times the amount of capital sunk' in it as was invested in the Dunedin system. It was second only to that of Sydney in the Southern Hemisphere. It could be claimed that the business had been well conducted, and it had paid, in spite of anticipations to the contrary. Costs had risen tremendously since the war. "Some people think the trams will run on nothing,'' he said. Some of the members had been characterised as Tories on the previous evening by one of the candidates for the Board, but he had' always regarded himself as a Radical. The Association's policy was as liberal as possible. There were a good many copyists in the community, as might be seen by reading the report of the Labour candidates' addresses. They had evidently forgotten that school children up to 17 years of age were being carried on the trams at a farthing a mile. The undertaking had to earn £310,000 a year to pay its way. An increase of seven per cent, had taken place in the population of Christehurch in the last five years, yet the number of tram-rid-ers had increased by only two per cent. Concession tickets had been lowered in price to an irreducible minimum. The Board Received no revenue now for its standby electrical plant, and the cost of supply had gone up in the last two years. "We have the big stick raised against us in the shape of Government control," he said. The cost of electricity this year would be £SOOO more than in 1926. Union's Demands. Recently demands had been received from the tramway employees which would involve an added expenditure of £IO,OOO, if 'granted. He wondered if they thought the trams were run for their special benefit. It "was said in the Arbitration Court frequently that an industry which could not pay a certain wage should close down. He wondered what the people would think if they found out one morning they had no trams. Mr Flesher explained the Board's depreciation and reserve funds. Those who managed the system, he said, should have a due sense of responsibility, and not be men who would hand out concessions right and left, without a thought of the cost. In the future the income of the depreciation fund would be about enough to meet the withdrawals. In 1934 £750,000 would have to be met, somehow or other. There would be about £500,000 available, but £250,000 would have to be borrowed. Business men would be glad to take up the tramways at a cost of £1,000,000.

Nobody could say that fares had been unreasonable, taking everything into account. Penny fares could be given, provided that the benefit agreed with the cost. Savings might be effected. Standing charges might be reduced, and'the service cut down, but the great item was wages. In 1914 highest grade motormen and conductors received respectively £3 7s 8d and £3 0s 7d for the 48 hours' week; now the rates for the same workmen were £5 Is 8d and £4 17s 6d. The Board had a body of emploees and a system of which they had no need to be ashamed. Christchurch never suffered by a comparison of tramway Bystems. The men were well treated, and if only agitators left them alone there would be no trouble at all. The discounts given by way of concession fares were £22,000 a year, when the Board's outside revenue was only £II,OOO. Its advertising was not as popular as it used to be. The Board needed £11,500 extra this year. Savings j amounting to £6OO a year were being effected by the one-man cars on the St. Martins line, and by extending the system to other lines this would be increased to £SOOO. If the Association's candidates were elected this would be done, and the Board would be able to meet the additional cost of electricity. Against a Bate. Property in the City was mortgaged for the tramways, and a rate could be levied, but the Association was against this, believing that the users should pay for ,the running costs. Already conductors on the trams had to carry twelve different kinds of tickets, and they could not be burdened with every sort of concession tickets, but they could sell the single section concessions. He could not see the slightest difficulty in the way of removing the restriction on the use of concession tickets to the holder only. It was his idea that the proposed area in which the penny section, with an overlapping central City zone, should, operate should be from Salisbury to St. Asaph streets, and from the Hospital to Fitzgerald avenue. Christchurch had suffered very little from the bus trouble, and it was preposterous to say, as one of the Labour men had said, that the Board had made a mess of the system. Losses had been reduced. Some people urged the scrapping of the trams, and their replacement by buses, but the former were the best means of shifting the masses. It would take 500 or 600 buses to lift the people in Cathedral square every evening. He ventured to forecast that the people would prove their satisfaction with tramway management in the past, and that they would mdke no change in control. (Applause.) Mr E. H. Andrews said ho could speak as the man on the outside. He heartily subscribed to the Association's plat* form. Costs must be cut down to the lowest limit consistent with service. It had been stated that there were losses on the quarry.

Mr Flesher: £SOO profit last year. "I'm glad to hear it," said Mr Andrews- The ctfst of running the maintenance and repair shops should be investigated, arf it was reported that they were also a big burden. He was convinced that the penny fare was a practical possibility, and a great deal of business was being lost in the inner area of the City by its abolition. It should not be confined to this part alone, but should be extended to the outside areas as well. "Our friend, the enemy, has a great temptation from the accumulated funds," he said, "and they like getting their hands on them, to make a good showing in a brief period." World Authority's Opinion. Mr G. T. Booth said a recognised world authority on tramways had said the Christchureh system was the best sonth of the Line, and would .compare favourably with anyan the world. The Board was continually being bombarded with suggestions, and none was rejected without consideration, unless it was foolish on the face of it. Compared with Mr Flesher he would have to consider himself a conservative. He was

not so sanguine, and anticipated that there would be considerable withdrawals from the depreciation fund before the loans matured. The quarry was not run for a profit, but it had earned one. Very great caution would have to be exercised this year to avoid making a loss on the systenl. In his opinion it was not a time for experiments.

Mr W. Hayward said his life study had been on such lines that lie felt his experience should be of value on the Board. Mr S. Holland asked how the cost of carrying a passenger a mile had increased from Id to 1 l-5d in four months; and whether candidates were in favour of calling public tenders for all contracts. Mr Flesher said the period in which the increase tad taken place was longer than four months; he did not think any of the members of the Board would be against the second suggestion. Mr Sim said it could be claimed that an exhaustive enquiry had been made into tramway matters during the last few weeks, and they were impressed with the great difficulties to be met. Not a tittle of effective criticism had been advanced against the Association's policy. The other Party apparently had none. One newspaper had endorsed the Association's policy in its entirety, and the other two had given it support. They could only be defeated by the blind partisanship of the other side, which might be prepared to place in office men with no ability whatever in administrative affairs, and the apathy affecting their real supporters. Otherwise they should go forward and put in men of proved ability and undoubted integrity. Mr A. F. Wright moved a -vote of thanks to the candidates, which was carried. *