CITY TRANSPORT.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1562, 4 October 1912, Page 7

CITY TRANSPORT.

SHOULD TRAMS BE FURTHER UTILISED ? COUNCILLOR FLETCHER'3 PROPOSAL, CARKIED ON MAYOR'S CASTING VOTE. At a'meeting of Hie Wellington City Council last night, Councillor K. Fletcher sooved: , ■ ■ "That the time is opportune for the City Council to favourably consider a scheme for a moro economical, speddier, and modern service in connection with the transit of passengers and traffic by rneans of electric traction and the -utilisation of the Municipal Tramways, whereby the Harbour Board wharves and railway stations should be linked up by direct tramway communication with all the suburban, districts on the contemplated cessation of the present Te Aro railway service. "That with' the above object in view, a- conference be called by the City Council, consisting .of representatives of the Government, City Council, Harbour Board, and Chamber of Commerce, including the- Chief Government Engineer, Corporation and Harbour Board Engineers, to consider tho proposal." Councillor Fletcher Elaborates. Councillor Fletcher, said that he believed that the introduction of this scheme would benefit the,city, and would provide a modern means. of transport. It must to-admitted that-the To Aro railway could only serve a portion of the community in. a circumscribed area. What was wanted was a comprehensive scheme trhich would servo a very largo area of the city and tho suburbs. Any goods station which would be erected must bo placed at the northern end of. the city, as goods intended- both for import and export would bo congregated there. Councillor Fiiller interjected that there was. ''no contemplated cessation of the present Te Aro Railway Station" as was stated in the motion. • ■ Councillor Fletcher, continuing said that if the tramway track was used and the wharves linked up with the suburbs paople could get their goods : quickly at. email cost. To facilitate the working of the scheme, depots could bo established : in tho subrirbs. He did not '. think .the people would for long tolerate tho old obsolete line to To Aro. There was daily the spectacle of a locomotive puffing through the city with no particular object in view. Councillor Fuller: What about your fish market? , Councillor Fletcher: Councillor Fuller will have an opportunity of speaking later 'on. He should "not be so impertinent. : The Mayor: Councillor .Fuller, don't interrupt, please. Councillor Fletcher went on to say that a scheme of the nature of that now proposed by him had been introduced into tb? South of France and was working ex'cdlwjtly. Hs jaid that in 1906;7 tho Wellington Harbour Beard had paid for cart'age of roods .£1375, and that the amouut hid increased to for th? eleven months ending Ausust, 1912- In that period of eleven months '10,550 tons of transhipment goods had bsen oaTtetl for the board, exclusive of wool and flax, whicli amounted to 172,127 tons.. If there was a nystem of electrical transport in vo;pie. dispatch would be facilitated "and exp?pFO would be saved. Some people might think that they would be detrimentally affected, but it would not do them as n.uch harm as they thought, and whore the public good, was concerned, the individual had to tako a back seat. Congratulations and Criticism. Councillor J. Smith seconded the mo-, tion, and congratulated Councillor Fletcher on his having brought the mal--tnr forward. No doubt, he said, something WES required, and the suggested conference would go into the matter. "This is a very, ambitious scheme which Councillor Fletcher has brought down, and I join with Councillor, Smith ~ in' congratulating him," .began-. Councillor..''..G. Shirtcliffe. At the- samo '■ time ho - thonsht' that it ' .would have bean, better for the council to have had a • report from its.'. engineers.. before .the conference met. No. doubt tho scheme would encounter very considerable difficulties. -He thought that the scheme would be a most expensive one, which would involve the erection of depots at a number, of the suburbs, and these would cost, considerable money to erect, lu addition, there would be the working cost of the depots, which would require a staff of> men at each place. Then, he doubted if the present lines, were capable of carrying much more traffic than was sent over them at present, and also, if tho engineers could see a way of coping with tho additional burden. Line extensions, too, might be necessary. It was possible that the cost, of cartage would not bs reduced to any appreciable extent. He doubted if we hnd the porter in the power house to ruii & freight service in addition to the passenger service. It might be even necessary to erect a new power house. He was with councillors in their desire to see an improvement, bnt it would be foolish not to go into all these matters. On© district, which was now sadly handicapped in the matter of cartage, was Jliramar. From that suburb the Gas Company was constantly Bending coke into the city, aud an experiment in this direction might , be made by putting on freight cars for the cartage of this commodity. "A Motor Age." ■ Councillor J. Fuller expressed the opinion that anyone who voted" for thb motion ,would be voting absolutely to do away with the Te Aro Railway Station. He hoped tho motion would be turned down by the.council! In his opinion, the To Aro Hailwny was one of the best things in tho city. Councillor J. Trevor was sorry to cay he could not support the motion. Ho did not think it was a matter in which the council should move at all. It was a matter that shonld be dealt with between the Harbour' Board and tho Railway Department. The whole thing bristled iiith difficulties. Councillor J. E. Fitzgerald recognised a great deal'of merit in what Councillor Fletcher had said, but he believed it was altogether impossible to carry out the scheme on the" .tramways. This was a motor aga, and he would say that the tramway freight service could not compote with the motor petrol lorry. Councillor W. H. P. Barber opposed tho.motion. Hβ believed that it had been brought for the purpose of dob' , away with the Te Aro railway, ■ and he was against doing away with any service that ho thought ought to be extended. Ho nlso expressed doubt about the ability of the tramways to. carry tho traffic. Then,' addressing . Councillor Fletcher, who had left his seat, Councillor Barber faid:' "Don't go' away,- Councillor Flct:her." Councillor Fletcher: Oh, I'm not going tiway for anything you can say. Continuing,' Councillor Barber 'declared that it was cheaper to carry goods between I'etono and Wellington by horse and cart than by train, because of the fact that. the goods 'had first to be carted to tho tram. It was the extra handling that cost money, not tho little bit of es- . tra distance once the goods were on the vehicle. If Councillor Fletcher's scheme were put into operation it would cause chao3 in the passenger traffic. ''Attempt to Tear Up To Aro Railway." Councillor R. A. Cameron said that-the ■main thing which was contained in Counjillor Fletcher's proposal should be done jy tho Government. Hβ maintained that the transferrin? of goods from trams to trains and-trains-to steamers would be i roLrograde step. Councillor G.- Frost thought this motion was an attempt to play ii,to the haads of the Harbour Board and the Chamber of Commerce in their attempt lo tear up the Te Ara, railway. Outside these two bodies there was no attempt jrther on the part of tho Government or inyone else to do away with that railway. For that reason he could not support the motion. ' Councillor. Fletcher: If you like, I will strike-those words out. Will you support it then? , , , Councillor Frost: I think the whole thing is wrong. . Councillor Fletcher: But if I delete tlw ■names of those bodies will you sappurl Councillor Froot: No; I must vot( cgainet it.- . Councillor I. MTlenzie,added his con' Eratulationa to the mover because ho be-

lieved that the motion would provide food for thought. Ho was not, however, goiflß to support the scheme, been use he dm not believe sufficient data had been supplied to justify him in doiuy to. it seemed to him that ttio extra trulh'c would overtax ,thi> tramlines, which would liavi to bo renewed much earlier than was otherwise tho ease. Moreover, hi' objected to tho tramway officers beins a>ked It report on a scheme like this lit tho present juncture, when all their attention was required for the tramway aorvieo itself. Ho thought that at the present timo they should try and conserve tho Tβ Aro railway, which had never lxrii given ii fair te'st. The growth of the city was 1"vards Tβ Avo, Jliraimir w;is goia;,' to Ik> a great industrial centre, and it would be absolutely necessary that goods should V placed 011 tho trains and carried right through without the cost of transhipment. Finally he tspressed the opinion that n Councillor Fletcher's scheme were carried into operation it would burden the oity with an expense which at the present time it could ill afford. The Motion Carried. It was now five minutes to 11, and there wns just over a quorum of the council present. Tho Mayor said that he regretted that when matters of a nature which might involve tho city in great expenditure were under consideration, councillors could not see their way to seo the Hireling through.. Councillor "Fitzgoraid : Look at tho time, sir! Look at Hie time! Tho Mayor: Yes, I merely mention the matter,, and wonder if it would not be bettor to hold special meetings to discuss such questions. Tho Mayor thought that it would bo advisable that, if a conference were held, it should approach the question quito apart from tho matter of tho Te Aro Railway Station. On tho Mayor's suggestion, Councillor Fletcher agreed to delete from tho moHcn the referonce to tho Tβ Aro Railway Station, and tho reference to the Chamber of Commerce, and to add the local bodies to tho proposal. The motion- was then put. The ayes were: The Mayor, Councillors Fitzgerald. .Fletcher, Shirtcliffo, and Smith. Tho Noes were: Councillors Barter, Cameron, Fuller, M'Kenzio, and Trevor. The Mayor gave his casting voto in favour pi the motion.