HATAITAI TUNNEL.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1054, 17 February 1911, Page 2

HATAITAI TUNNEL.

Sir,-I was highly amused at your subleader of the 11th instant, purporting to be an ihttaviSw with Mr. Cablo re the tram service to. Kilbirrite and surrounding districts. Surely the Assistant-Elec-trical Engineer must take your readers to be very raw material. I, will just treat his illogical statements seriatim. (1) The five-mimite service. Quito so, I go further;-at times it is equal to a threfi-minuto service—but is such able to cope with tho traffic? As a constant traveller at the busj> hours, I am never ablo to obtain a'seat in a car. which is in itself bad enough, but I dare the tranWays authorities to challeigl' the Statement that it is positively indecent' for ladies to he in tho crushed trams to Hataitai at tWse hours. Mr. Cable is handy with his argument of a five-minuto Service. Will ho deny that a twenty, minute servico was the order of the day when the tunnel was first Constructed, and why is it td-day a threo or fiveminuto service? Simply the demand on the department to cater lor an'ehormous increasing traffic, henc6 no thanks to the tramway officials for. the servico forced upon them by tho populous suburbs. (2) Mr. Cable uext enlightens tho people with this intelligent statement: "If tho tramlinis down Ivilbirnio were doubled, a still largo number of cars could be run through the hill." Possibly, but wh.v,.l.;asi;, do people rido in the cars at all? Simply to reach their destinations at the' shortest time. But what do wo find? Frequently I havo had to wait minutes one .side or the other ofthe tunnel, whilo two or three cars camo through from" the, opposite direction. Will the authorities deny this, and why should the peoplo on this particular line bo subject to annoynflce that no other line has to compete with? I go further, and hurl mismanagement at the tramways, lwsnd oh tho engineer's own statement. Why was this particular lino not doublerailed oft Construction ? Bocauso it was never anticipated by th 6 staff that Hatai-tai-ICilbirnie lino would be the best paying route in the city, thus showinu an irrir of jiidjtnierit as to thn capabilities Of a progressive' district. As to freight —ye god?, listen to this s.ifto utterance frOii) i fity official!"-'"Provided the iiWj. mty rollirif stocKV ' itc/r/were- available, tha .whole of--the goods r'eijuired cculd

be. .easily carried through the tunnel." whose fault is it the stock is not available? And why should residents be inconvenienced because the tramways have not the stock. Again, this proposition is in keeping witii tho City Council's treatment of the residents. 011 the other side of Mount Victoria.' Does the council proposo to deliver the goods free? Jt v of . wny should wo ba taxed in comparison to other districts? Will the City Council dolivsr 1000-bricks or a tori of coal, or load of timber? If not, their .jogey will fall very flat.; Just fancy ' a proposition for a commercial house to arst place goods in a conveyance, deliver to Lourtendy Place, then placed on a freight car, dumped c.T at Kilbirnie, piiked up again by a carrier, and finally delivered ™ .the purchaser. Magnificent scheme, and >;l presume, at a magnificent cost." ■ -ilr. Cable s statements 'are quite in keeping with Mr. Morton's recent proposition conveyed to the waste-paper basket by [ho.. City Council, viz., runmrif; a tiinnel through a bsautiful and. costly reserve and cutting off half of a very progressive and populous district. There is only one remedy: Adopt the utterance of Mr. Hright: A bold scheme.is wanted," run a tunnel up Queen or Elizabeth Streets and through the mount, that will suit 1 all and sundry from Bosen&th to Seatoun.—l am, ctc„ • UAC