"HUGE EXPENDITURE."

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 960, 29 October 1910, Page 6

"HUGE EXPENDITURE."

HUTT TRAMWAY PROPOSAL. A COUNSEL OF CAUTION. " A gathering of about a hundred and fifty Lower Hutt ratepayers assembled in tlio Town Hall of that borough last evening at the invitation, of tho Mayor, Mr. E. P. Bunny, to hear .his criticism of tho Hutt Valley tramway proposal. Among those present wero three members of tho . Hutt Tramway Board, Messrs. M'Ewan, Stevens, and Baldwin. Mr. Bunny said the proposal to raiso a loan of £85,000 was of considerable magnitude, and its pros and cons could not be too carefully considered. He was at one with those who said that tho necessity for improving means of communication in tho Hutt Valley was positive,. urgent, and pressing.' At the samo time, he could not understand why tho board had not submitted some alternative scheme to the ratepayers. In London a system of motor buses had been very successful, and if . an asphalt track were laid on the main road, he believed this class of bus would be a success locally, Mr. Bunny expressed an entire lack of confidence in the estimate of cost submitted by the Tramway Board. Mr.. M'Ewan, the chairman of that body, estimated the cost of laying the tramway at £8000 per mile, and had stated that in Wanganui tho cost of laying the tramway had been £7500 per mile. As a matter of fact, although the cost of the Wanganui tramway was originally estimated at £40,000, the borough was ultimatelysaddled with a debt of £45,000, equivalent to a cost of £9000 per' nnlo. ' The speaker , was certain that the cost of the local tramway would finally prove to be not less than £9500 per mile, and instead of £85,000 paying for the work, it would cost £95,000! In "Wanganui no bridges were required.' On the Hutt line a bridge costing £5000 would have to be constructed. The conditions in Wanganui were in every way more favourable to the successful running of a tramway than in the Hutt Valley.,: • A Comparison. Even so, late figures showed that receipts'faile'd to cover; interest and expenditure. If Wanganui had spent £85,000 on its tramway, it would be incurring an annual loss of £2000. As further supporting his contention that the actual cost of the' Hutt tramway would exceed the estimate, Mr. Bunny quoted the case of Miramar Borough. Laying the Minamar line had cost, exclusive, of tho Seatoun tunnel, £9500 per mile, and it had to be remembered that in -Miramar no power-hotis'e had been - constructed, as the borough obtained power from Wellington, city. . i Water Power. The Government was developing a scheme of-water power.' Tho second source of power it proposed to tap was the Hutt. One of the things they had to consider in the present scheme was the establishment of a,power-house costing £9000. -If the 1 Government scheme were carried out -cost of tho power-house would be saved, and, in addition, the wages of three - ".engineers, aggregating about £600. Another. thing to consider. was that successful experiments had been- made with storage battery cars. .- If these could be employed on the Hutt _system, the whole cost of overhead equipment, amounting to £13,140, would be saved. Tho . board asked that the scheme to borrow £85,000 should be approved,, and that, as a body of business men, should be trusted to effect the economies he had mentioned, should it prove practicable. This,. however, would not bo a businesslike course. They could assist the board, Mr. Bunny opined, by throwing out its soheme until it had been finally decided .'whether- one or both of the improvements he had named could be applied.

Heavy Responsibilities. The financial position of the borough should bo borne constantly, in mind. With a population of 4000 peoplo, it had a debt of £98,000, and 'an increase of £3000 to £10,000 was in prospect for; extensions to the sowerago system. Moreover, in connection with the sewerage, system other expenses might arise. Tlioso who were agitating for a. tramway should have advanced some moderate proposal, and everybody would have supported them. Ho did not think the ratepayers would look askance at a proposal .to establish, at a moderate expenditure of £10,000 or £15,000, a system of motor buses oh an asphalt track. Concluding, Mr. Bunny declared he had felt it his duty to bring what he considered weighty reasons against undertaking this huge expenditure. He was pessimistic as' to the prospects of ; the Hutt, but they had to face the facts of tho'case. Owing to a fall, in the value of property, tney now had £400 or £500 less to collect in rates than formerly. Mr. Bunny was accorded throughout an attentive hearing,, and there was' loud applause as he concluded his address. Mr. M'Ewan in Reply. Mr. J. W. M'Ewan, chairman of the Hutt. Tramway Board asked' and was accorded leave to reply to some of Mr; Bunny's remarks. ' ' Although it was true that in Wanganui a tramway loan of £45,000 had been raised, tho bal-ance-sheet. of 1909 showed that only £41,000 had been -spent. Mr. Cook, Petone borough engineer, had estimated the cost of the Hutt tram line at £7600 per mile. Consequently, his (Mr. M'Ewan's) estimate was based not only on the experience :o'f Wanganui, but "on the opinion of an export. The original proposal to raise a tramway loan of £85,000 had been approved by a meeting of' Lower' Hutt ratepayers by. a majority of 62. Since then, the board had received a petition asking that the original scheme should be again brought down. The board could not have acted otherwise than it had. The. board had considered tho (juestion of motor buses. It knew that in the city of Leicester (England) £37,000 was lost in one year on motor buses. In London a large number of omnibus companies had been compelled to -merge their identity in one large compainy. From a gentleman who had been secretary to one of these companies he' had recently obtained information which satisfied him that whatever the value of motor omnibuses in districts round about London, they were of no value in a district like that of the Hutt.

Mr. J. W. Reaile supported Mr, Bunny in his opposition to the tramway proposal. On tho motion of Mr. M'Ewau, a vote, of thanks was passed to Mr. Bunny for calling tho meeting and presiding.