WADESTOWN TRAMWAY.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 526, 5 June 1909, Page 3

WADESTOWN TRAMWAY.

Sir,—l notico'in youfissue of June 2 a report of a deputation o.f Wadestown residents that waited ,updn tho Finance Committee of the Oity Council, in which it was stated thai Mr: Cook said, that the Goldie's Brae residents would only have '50 feet to climb to reach tho proposed tramway to Wadestown, and this was'used as'-ono of-the .arguments why the Goldio's Brae area should be included in the'tramway.rating area..Now. those figures coriyey.iqiiito a. ivrong impression of the position of the Goldie's Brae houses 'in-.regard'- to the.proposed tramway; and injustice to.myself and the.other residents of;'that locality, I , must tako exception to such a.- sojious'' under-estimate . of the height that tiould have to bo climbed by us to reach the tram. („ ■ , ...■■■'• ~"'■• , The facts arc that there is only ono house that could be spoken of as within a reasonable reach of the tram, and even that one' is 75 feet ielow the proposed line; then there are sis others from .which' a height.of 100 feet and a distance of some nine chains would have to be covered before the line could be .reached, and this.with, an, expenditure in time of 'at least three minutes. Now in this same time, aud,with, much less effort, tho Thorndon tram can'bo reached, and the probable additional '. penny section saved. .The remaining 'residents in the upper, portion of Goldie's Brae would have' a climb' of not less than 150' feet', andla- distance of from 12 to 20 chains to cover, so, to those my remarks- re the easiness of reaching • <tho Thorndon tramway would- still .more stroivl apply - .' ''As , totho-residents/oftno.lower ppr-. tioii'pf the .area, whose/climb .would -be from 200 to 300 foot; the injustice' in-their'case is ■so•''apparent'.'that it is hardly necessary-for me to do moro than mention-it. :.■■ ._ '■'•■..■ Even as it is, the residents of this.locality mako little use of the'tramway system,' owing to.the high'charge of. twopence tliat is required from, say,Kirkaldio's—the centre of city business lifo to our womenfolk—to tho Thorndon terminus, , so'there is , little dhanco of. our using a. tramway-route in which, wo snail bo required to pay an additional penny —a totiil of threepence fora roundabout ride, when the destination .in question can bo reached by an easy walk of - littlo moro than a mile .■.-•». ■;•■- ■■■

A further consideration is that our properties .are valued at aoproxirMtely twice as hiph ,i-value as the Wodestown properties, and consequently an unfairly heavy burden of rating would be thrown upon us for fcho raising of a loan for a tramway which we shall not use, as 'well m> an unduly high share, of tho responsibility for the. liability to make pood tlio loss on tho service which is certain t-o occur for many years to come. ' Now, sir, thft whole injustico of. this proposal to bring Goldm's Brae into tho. ratine; area might bo removed, and some 30 to 35 chains of-non-fiire-payintf lino would bo eliminated from tho proposed Into by n'n alteratinn'of the route, nnd the turning of the line throu<7ii Qneen's Park Driro and Goldio's Drao &od a portion,

of Mrs. Rhodes's property— thrts making the tramway of use to tne locality, and immensely increasing tho dividend-earning power of the line when Highland Park is eventually sold and built upon. And there is no serious engineornig difficulty in <. this proposed alteration, as Nature'has provided a gully in which the cars could he reversed near the Queen's I'ark gates. With this* alteration I am convir.ced that the whole of ; the upper portion of -the (Soldie's Rrao residents would support tho tramway proposal, and the turning'of tho lino 'through Mrs. Hhodes's property should also lesson that lady's objections to being rated, so that from all points.of view the matter should go forward nioro smoothly, and the (joldio's Brae residents in particular would be freed frjira'tho-feeling that a great injustice might be done to them. —I am. etc., ■.■'■• - A. WELLS NEWTON. Juno 3, 1909. ,:.. . i . '.-.-