A RAID ON THE TRAMWAYS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1647, 14 January 1913, Page 6

A RAID ON THE TRAMWAYS.

: The Trades and Labour Counci must not go uncomplimonted for th( frankness of its declaration that ii will call upon the citizens thre< months hence to wreck the tramwayi system. At its last meeting, so, iti president tells,ua to-day. the Oouncil resolved to advocate.the principle of a universal penny faro. This resolution, it appears, is the final' out come of some prolonged conaidera tion by tho Council, in which it wa! aided by a committee of which Mr has been tho chairman For tho moment wo may pass with out notice the extraordinary concep tidn of his Mayoral duties which' hai permitted Mb. M'Laren to assist it ■a Labour movement against sounc tramways finance/ It is of greatei urgency to let the public knov exactly what the Labour: municipa platform will affirm and demand Put in its briefest ■ form, what ,ii proposed—and what, wo suppose every, Labour candidate at the muni cipal elections in April "will be com mitted to—is a universal penny fare and an arrangement by which thi city will have to make, good tho enor mous deficit. Apparently tho Trade: Council wishes tho'.public to behcvi that the universal penny faro wil pay the actual working expensesbut the city will have to ; find th< interest and sinking fund. ' Since the issue of , the balancesheet for tho year ended March _ 31 1911, the tramways drifted rapidlj to tho bad—so rapidly that by nui versal consent a rovision upward o the fares was necessary in the in terests of common honesty and pru dence. For that year 1910-11 th< average faro was 1 l-3d. What i easier to the mind of those rookies, popularity-hunters than to Bay tha l-3d. of a penny is nothing.. A men third of a penny! Are.we all grad grinds to-insist on that? ono cai imagine these people asking. ; Bu the thing takes on a different com plexion when we realise, that ii 1910-11 tho car-revenue was £133,355 Reduce that by ono quarter and tin loss would be over £30,000. But f universal penny faro might caua a greator loss than that. We give be low tho analysis of the car-revenui as stated in tho report for 1910-11 and we add in the last column thi receipts on a universal penny scale Receipts on Actual univorsn Tickets receipts. Id. rate issued. .£ <£ ' Id- faro ... 13,502,377 50,510 50,511) lki faro ... 161,205 1,008 672 2d faro ... 35,182 17,741 3d faro ... 767,251 9,591 3,197 it two ... 135,716 2,262 JK 101,653 78.682

Hero is obviously the means of a ' loss of over £26,000. Then over £15,000 was spent in cards, and as theso would, on the whole, bo usod in the same proportions by onesection, two-, three-, and four-sec-tion travcllors, there would bo tho same proportionate loss, making up tho £30,000. But wo must also remember that tho adoption of a universal penny faro would _at all points mean increased working expenses if it brought increased traffic, and no increase, but instead a heavy decrease, in revenue. Tho man who rides 4 'sections to-day would still ride 4 sections and only pay a penny.. Thoro would, perhaps, bo no great increase in traflic to.begin with, but every increase in tho longcr-distanco travellers would moan an extra loss. This, however, is obvious enough, and wo do not suppose the Trades Council will Eorioußly attempt to deny that its proposal would put tho tramwayb not les3 than £30,000 (since tho avcrago faro, is now 1.4 d. at least, and the net revenue is greater than in 1811, the actual loss would be nearer £60,000). Tho public will have good reason for surprise at tho Trades Council s daring, attempt to mako a sudden assertion of tho principle. that tho ratepayors should be robbed for tho benefit of the users of the tramways. The proposal could hardly at any time hope to secure tho approval of an nonest community; but the Wellington public has lately bean sobered into realising that at the very least tho tramways must bear tho coat of their running. All over the city.there arc localities of which tho residents pay high rates without receiving one; ha'porth of benefit from tho tramways; indeed, in sonjo localities the opening, of suburban areas has lessened the value of properties,' in. theso localities. Honesty requires that tramway passengers'shall pay : for the 'services rendered to them, and.wo shall bo surprised if tho. Socialistic proposal' of tho Trades* Council strikes the publio aa anything other than an argument .[ in ';' favour of keeping the Labour-Socialists out of. tho business of city government.