CARS INSTEAD OF CARTS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1560, 2 October 1912, Page 5

CARS INSTEAD OF CARTS.

THE MAYOR ON MR. FLETCHER'S SCHEME. QUITE I'KACTICABLE. The scheme of freight transport by electric car between the wharves with, transhipments, and between the wharves and the city and suburbs with goods, is attracting some attention, and later on will doubtless come up for full discussion by the local bodies affected. I Mr. Fletcher states that the Harbour ! Board's annual bill for cartage is in- I creasing to an alarming extent, and as it increases the process ot transporting transhipments by horse-drawn vehicles must necessarily become slower owing to tlio greater spread of the wharves along tho water front. Jlr. i'letcher says that it is quito a long way now lor carts plying between tho Queen's and King's Wharves, but with the I'ipitea Wharf (to he erected next year) on tlie one hand and the Clyde Quay Wharf on the other, the distance lo be covered will make transhipping cargu u very slow and arduous business. Another point Mr. Fletcher makes is the great advantage electrically-driven coal cars would be. At present the coal is loaded into drays, which lumber along soino of the main streets making a considerable mess with their droppings, and taking a great lime !o reach their destinations. With electric cars the coal could be loaded as quickly as into a dray right on the wharf, and could be whirled away to a. given point either in the city or suburbs with great expedition. When consulted yesterday, his Worship the. Mayor (Mr. D. •M'Larcn) said he had not gone very closely into Mr. Fletcher's scheme, but if justified'it did not'appear to him to be impracticable. Of course, thero would bo complications which would have to be straightened out. For instance, tho freight car lines would hayo to cross and rccross the railway lines in tho vicinity of tho Railway Wharf. Tho chief reason, however, that might defer putting into operation such a scheme at present was tho rather weak state of tho tramways finance, and the general depioasion in trade.

Tho reporter mentioned that Mr. Fletcher believed that it would pay—that tho revenue was there waiting for a better system of goods transportation from the Mr. M'Laren said that might be. but there was a good deal of conservatism always to fight down in introducing a new scheme, and the revenue derivable from such a system might not be such as they would desire. Nevertheless, he (Mr. M'Laren) believed it would be a great boon to' suburbanites, aud stated that it fras in some cases the best part of a day's job to take a load of stuff from the city to some of tho outlying suburbs, which could easily be served by freight cars under .'.oiuo such system as that which had been ■ suggested by Mr. 1 lotcher. ■ . To place the proposal in the fair way of formal consideration by the bodies concerned, Mr. Fletcher has handed the following notice of. motion to the Town Clerk:- ' . .. ."That the time is opportune for tlio City Council to favourably consider a scheme for a more economical, .speedier, and modern service in connection with the transit of passengers and traffic by. means of electric traction, and tho utilisation of the municipal tramways, whereby the Harbour Board wharves and railway stations should bo linked up by direct tramway communication with all the suburban districts on the contemplated cessation of the present Te Aro ,railwav service."