HOLD UP AT CABLES AFFECTS WELLINGTON TRAMS

Chronicle (Levin), 12 May 1947, Page 7

HOLD UP AT CABLES AFFECTS WELLINGTON TRAMS

WELLINGTON, May 11. The Wellington tramway service has onlyia fpfthight's supply of .fcew brake shoes for. the tranis aind it is reported that lun!ess:;^ofk;iis BdOn fdsumed ih the workshops of William Cable and Co., ijta., wnere tne snoes are macie and where 200vmen 6f the works statt resigned recently, there will be great difliculty in maintaining a full service. Mr. James Cable, managing director of William Cable and Co,, Ltd., in answer to an inquiry tonight, said the stoppage of the work in the company' s shops would cause a serious delay to numerous projects of national and local importance. The nianufacture of brake Shoes for trams was one of these. Mr. J. W. F. Welsh, tramway engineer to the Wellington City Corporation, said he had been advised that there was only a fortnight's supply of new brake shoes left. They were made from a special type of moulding only in cable and Company 's workshops. It would be ditficult to have them made anywhere else in a hurry or without great cost. It was obvious enough that they were essential to the running of the tramway1 service. The stoppage of work at Cables has caused a delay in the manufacture oi equipment for carrying out importani construction work on the new Maraetai hydro-electric station on the Waikato River.