OUR CITY CARS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1258, 13 October 1911, Page 5

OUR CITY CARS.

FURTHER LEGISLATIVE RESTRICTIONS. PALACE CARS BANNED. : COST OP ALTERAfOJON, .£61,000. ' As reported in Tin; Doiukios yesten ' day, Ma-. T. 11. Davcy, member 'of Par- ' liamout for Cliristcliuro'h East, succeeded, . on Wednesday, in having inserted in tho 'Jtanrwnys Act Amendment Bill (now be- [ fovo tho House) tho following clause:— 3 "(I) All tiaincaw shall lx> so consuruotcd ns to provido a passageway from ono cm! ol the car to tho other. ' . "(2) At least ]j) per centum of the exist- _ ing cafe (jnolwijng cars constructed pursuant to a contract entered prior to tho ? nasHiug of this Act) which are not in compliance with this provision, shall be con- _ vortod aimiinJly, M as to bring them in compliance therewith." i -i of the site of tho caprial city of New Zealand has, oe cvervouo . taows, imposed upon Wellington cotW restrictions as .regards the width of her main thoroughfares, and in a tramway _ system designed to euit these cixcumstances, tip width, of tho cars has ncceasaruy sijnarod a proportionate restrio- - iwn. L&nw, tlm predomimmoa on our . Unos of the well-known "pala<7?u of cai-. • Wilf^Ffn o '' c ] !i ?6 ton (Mr. T. M. IW M £-> w.stated to havo been unabJb to attend to his Parliamentary r w /f,r , f X *f L V?*™™ yesterday e ,T h « l'ropoied to do with wic-rciico to ■ \tA «r- Wilfoi-d sud that ho inmt (£s""> fM recwnmital of tho • riti' A or Jl ° WW** «f securing tor tho 0 «y tf CKB > mp 10U lwm tko operations of mi. Davcy a clause, or any such dauso nn'fl M n„nr a " y ' s last night and now .incorporated in tho Tramway w S ??, lI i?. t0 Uave a* unlooked-for eiS said 7J V $ mgton ' enterprise:" said tho Mayor, who desired it to bo wer fi e |!'ff Uy oonclusionl „™ i sod , V l '? 11 Mrlllm data whicli had s '.^,, 0 m l^.City ) 'l , ramway Department. «, no said, tho Government persists '. in retaining that clause, my personal SF I ?J°\i 8 h0 bKt <-'Mns wo can d« •» ib to ask the Government to take over I,• I -r? 010 c T o . nc , or a, run it, and pay the' liabilities lindcr that; clauso Wellington Utj, with its narrow gaugo track, is i J.. \ a a ]no&t extraordinary position. Iho extreme width of cans allowed by tho Government in tho city of Wellingsuuiciont room for a passage-way between _ fransverso seats, even if tho numbor of passengers on a lino of cross scats doea 1 not oxcecd throe-two on ono side of t '"ojxisisago and ono on tho other." i ii i C01 "I!J. V with tho roquiremenls of •he clause," continued tho Mayor "it appears to mo that only-tho box oar ty]ia of car, with longitudinal seats will kg practicable in tho Wellington sorviec. there aro sixty-thrco cars affected by tho a clause-forty-threo 'palaces,' seventeen - combination oars, and three Hong-Kongs. » cost of alteration, according to Mr. ? ,n rl "ichardson, will bo iiOO a car, a i total of about =£25,000, and tho seating • ? a P a 9' t y Wlil ,)t! reduced from 3000 to 2000. r It will bo necessary to provido an addit tional thirty cars to make tho total car- - rying capacity of tho 'Davcy" cars equal l to that of tho present types. Tho extra 1 c^ nn wlll m , cost £im cach-a total of 1 .£36,000. Thus tho aggregate extra outlay hero would bo .£61,000. Tho estimates of ASO and .GIOO per car as tho cost of alteration, as moutioncd in tho House, aro . quite inadequate for Wellington, whoro ; tho narrow width of tho cars involves reconstruction to effeot tho specified alteration, iho box typo of car is very inconvenient for tho loading and unloading of passengers, and it uses up more timo at tho stopping-places than tho cross-seat • types. Tho combination types aro the most' popular ones, and I think tho public will resent their conversion into 'boxes.' Sydney uses a largo number of I palaco cars, and moro of this typo are -, being built. This is tho. best cir for running a quick, satisfactory service" Comparativo statistics went to show r that tho Wellington gauge was 4ft., com- ; ■ pared with -li't. B»in. in Christchurch and 1 Auckland, and that tho contrasts in tho 1 maximum dimonsions of cars wcro as fol--1 lows :— Length. Width. = Auckland 43ft. 7ft. Gin. Christchurch ... 41ft. Gin. Bft. Wellington 30ft. Gft. Gin. Tho general effect of tho Davcy clauso, ' concluded tho speak«r, would bo to raako the 6ervico slow and expensive to work. ■ Tho revenue, judged by tho latest nvnilablo figures, would not bo sufficient to meet the extra running costs. Moreover, largo loans would havo to bo raised to i , alter tho cars and incrcaso tho rolling stock. It is declared, further, that faros will havo to bo rnisod if tho Davcy clause becomes law. The difficulty of making an adequate passugo from end to end of a palaco car may bo easily appreciated from an examination of the old Hong-Kong typo of car. A width of Gft. Oin. allowed room, for two scats on one 6ido of the passago and one on the other, but this accommodation left tho passage only Hin. wide. Instead of Gft. Oin. tho cars aro now only Gft. Gin. wide, by order of the Publio Works Department. 1 WHAT THE EMPLOYEES THINK. IMPOSSIBLE TO COPE WITH 1 TRAFPIC IN RUSH HOURS. Sovoral employees of the Wellington. Tramways wcro questioned last night as to what they considered would bo tho effect of tho now claupe so far its tho tram service in this city is concerned. 1 They woro practically of ono opinion: that it would bo impossible to cow with the traffic in rush liours in Wellington, with cars of the typo mentioned. Tho combination cars and tho palaco cars givo tho cjiiductors a reasonable chance of collecting faros, but if "nil tranicars wcro so constructed as to provido a passageway from ono cud of tho car to tho other," a conductor would nuvcr lie able to propcrlv attend to a crowded car. Tho result"would be that tho car would iiavo to bo delayed for him to collect tho fares, and the time-tablo would ba Tijiset. In CiiTisl church Iho scheme might bo feasible enough, for, with the exception of raco week and liko occasions, they never handle such crowds, and they never experience Kiich rushes in tho meal hours. Then again, as one of the men pointed out, tho lines thero radiate in nil directions from tho Square, whereas m Wellington the bulk of tho traffic is carried through tho oily by two routes only. If the cuts hero were lengthened it would simply add to tho difficulty of collecting tho f,irc£. Risk of accidents to tho employees was considered to bo the only reason for doing ivvav with tho palaco cars and replacing them by the "Davcy" cars. But tho number of accidents here had been very small, the men remarked. "Do tho conductors over complain about tho risk of accident in working tho palaco • cars, thenr" . , . Ono or two men occasionally complained, it was said, but then some would nl-' ways bo dissatisfied. The ideal car from a conductor's point of view would bo the "Davcy" typ« "i wet weather, and tho palace' typo on lino days, so ono of th». men suggested. A CHRISTCHURCH OPINION. (By ToleffraDh.—Press Association.) Christchurch, October 13. The new clauso added to the Tramways I Act Amondmcnt Bill, on the motion of Mr. Davcy, was tho subject of a stntomnnt. made to a. reporter by Mr. Goo. T. Booth, chairman of tho Christchurch' Tramways Board. , Mr. Booth said that if it wcro a question purely of providing reasonable safeguards against accidcut to conductors, tlio board would not be disposed to consider the matter of expense. At present Iho risk to the conductor was so slight as In bo almost negligible, and from that |K>int of view there wos no necessity to make the change suggested by Mr. Davcy. On the other hand, both the safety and convenience of the public using the I rams had to be censidered, and in both theso respects Wio change would bo to the disadvantage of tho public. There would bo a dimiotrtion of scaring capacity in the cars. There would also bo considerably more delay in boarding ami alighting. It wos ridiculous to >ay that a car could be altered fox ,1:5 or .£lO. Tlio board would not hesitate to alter tho cars if tho safety of conductors and passengers would bo i'noroas-' ed by tho alterations, but ho could not see that any bonefit would accrue from Mt. Davoy's proposala, ;