TRAMWAYS BILL.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1887, 23 October 1913, Page 5

TRAMWAYS BILL.

THE SIDE-STEP DANGER. A COMPLICATED PROBLEM. TIME CONCEDED. IWhen the House resumed after the trapper adjournment'the Prime Minister said that before the Tramways Bill was declared in Committee he would like to' say_ that he had been informed, and he believed correctly, tliat a very large number of members of the House were nod anxious that the Bill should be referred to a committee 111 • ordfcr to give the people concerned, and especially the. municipalities of Wellington, Ch'ristidhurch, and Dunedin, an opportunity of goinv before a committee to give evidence, and so placing their views before tlie House. If the statements made to ihim were correct, he would suggest that Mr. Statham should be given an opportunity of moving the following motion, of which he had givon notice:— "That a Select Committee be appointed, consisting of seven members, ■with' power to call for persons, and papers, to consider the best means of preventing a recurrence of the recent, ajccidents on electric _ -tramways, and particularly the provision:) of the Tramways Amendment Bill now. before the House': sucli Committee to report within Beven days: the committee to consist cf* Mr. Coates, Mr. Davoy, Mr. Dickson, Mr. Hindmarsh, Mr. Lee, Right Honourable Sir J. G. War v d, and the mover." If the House agreed to the amendment, the Prime Minister added, he •would suggest to t'he Minister of Public (Works that lie should defer proceeding with the Bill meantime, always on_ tho understanding t'hat tho committee Should report within seven days. His own opinion was that this course would jexpedito the progress of the Bill. Mr. Davey: I object to the Bill being 'jsent to a committee. The Prime Minister: All right. The House then went into Committee fen tho Bill. - . . . . There was no discussion until Clause was reached. A Concession of Time. The Hon; W. Fraser then said that lie had gathered during the'second reading debate that members had come to p somewhat different conclusion to that they had held on the previous Wednesday. If the Wellington City Council had to alter the cars within four months, some of the! cars would have tc be taken off the track. This would inconvenience the public, and make tho task of the.-corporation a difficult one: The corporation had informed him some time ago that they, would require twelve months in which to convert the cars. Less time than this should suffice, but he would be glad to accept an amendment proposing some reasonable extension of the time allowed in the Bill. Tho Minister added that another amendment would bo required in the interests of Auckland. In that city cars were used which had small compartments at each end to which passengers were not 'admitted. He proposed to make the clause provide for a centre passage from end to end of such portion of the car as Was reserved for passengers. Mr. Davey: That would be very faulty. The Minister, in concluding, said that Sf no other member, moved to extend the time allowed for the conversion of cars, he would "do so himself. An Amendment. Mr. T. H. Davey (Christchurch East), said 'that/he was prepared to move that a period of nine months Bhould be .allowed in which to alter the cars. To a question by Mr. Herdman, Mr. Davey said that. he had' not consulted the Wellington City authorities about the period of nino months. He had spokon to the chairman of the Christchurch Tramway Board, and the latter had said that while his hoard would like a longer time, it might be possible to do the nccessary work in toine months. Ho moved to extend the time allowed for conversion of the cars to August 1, 1914. Petitions. Mr. H. J. H. Okey (Taranaki) oaid that two petitions, one from the Wellington City Council, and one from the Dunedin City Council, in reference to the Tramways Bill, had been before'the Classification Committee that morning. 'As no committee was sitting to deal with tramway matters, tho Classification •' Committee had decided to send the petitions to the Minister for Public Works. The Minister had refused to receive the petitions. This being so, lie (Mr. Okey) proposed to read the petitions to the House. He was 1 proceeding to do 60 when he was ruled Out of order at the.instance of Mr. Witty. Mr. Okey then gave the substance of the petitions to the House. An Alternative. Mr. W. H. D. Bell (Wellington Suburbs) said that it seemed to him that the House-was not in a position to determine what was a reasonable timo In the circumstances it seemed best to , make the clause elastic. He would move aa amendment providing that the cars should bo altered by such a date, iuh being later than October 22, 1914, as the Governor-in-Council might fix by notice in the Gazette. Mr. Davey: I won't accept that. The Chairman said that Mr. Bell's iamendment should have been moved before that proposed by' Mr. Davey, and could not now bo received. Mr. Bell Sould movo later to extend the timo to November. Mr. H. Poland.(Ohinemuri) remarked that if the tramway authorities said that they could do the work of converting .the cars in twelve months, they could certainly do. it in six. Tho Wellington City Corporation had been trifling with ,the House, and with tho lives of the men whom it, employed. Mr. H. Atmoro (Nelson) also considered that no alteration _ should he r>arie in the period specified in the Bill. Four months was quite long enough. The word "March'/ was struck out oi the clause, on a . division by. 41 votes to 21. . • „ Mr. Bell suggested that "November" should be inserted in the clause in plac« of March, and to add to the clause " 01 such earlier dato as the Governor ' direct by notice in tho ' Gazette.'" Sir Joseph Ward pointed out that the . House would he sitting next August, and if the tramway proprietors then found that they wanted more time the,\ could come to Parliament and ask foi it. Ho thought that August was quite late enough. ' The word "August" was then substituted for "March" on tho voices.

A Minor Problem. Mr. Fraser said that the Auckland cars had a small compartment at each end which was partitioned off, and used by. the motormen and conductors. Ho suggested that it would not be necessary in thee ase of these cars to require tho central passage to go from end to end of the car, aa provided by tho Bill. Ho moved that the words from end to end of such part of the Mr as is reserved for passengers" be substituted. Mr. Dickson (Paruell) pointed out that tho partitions wero placed in the cars for tho convenience of the motoimen and conductors. There was 110 need to make any alteration to these cars, and the amendment should be carried. Mr. Witty (Riccarton) opposed the amendment, and urged that no exceptions should be made for Auckland. Doors should be placed in tho partitions, and thus provide the central pussage right through, and obviato the necessity of the motormen having to step out of the car in order to get in or out of the compartment. A Hopslcss Tangle. ' The Hon. W. Fraser made a suggestion that there should be a paesagoway from end to end of cars, except tor car's of a typo (used only in Aucklanl), where there is a compartment at either end exclusively roserved for the motorman. I _ *7 This proposal Mr. Davey would not accept. Finally,; Mr. Bradney suggested tha.t the only way out of the d-fn-culty was to exclude from the operation of the Bill all cars at present in use in Auckland. This suggestion Mr. Davsy said he would accept, and the Minister also agreed that it would get over the difficulty he had tried to compass in another way. , , . In the end the Minister withdrew his amendment, and Mr. Bradney moved to amend the clause by adding a proviso: "Provided that the clause shall Mt apply to the type of cars at present 111 use in Auckland." The Hon. W. Fraser said he could not accept the amendment. He had understood that there was only 0110 type of car in use in Auckland, but now he understood there were several. Ho Would accept an amendment describing tho tvT>e of car. Mr. Dickson said the type of car was known as the "closed front bogey car Mr. Bradney agreed to insert this description in his amendment, but the Minister suggested a better lorm tor the proviso, "That this clause shall not apply to any car exactly similar to the closed-front bogey cars at present' in use in Auckland." ,04. Mr, W. A.\Veitch pointed out that in Wanganui the cars were exactly the same as those in use'in Auckland, except that they were not bogey . cars. They were four-wheelea cars. The . Hon. W. Fraser then altered his amendment to read: "That the clause shall not apply to any car exactly similar in its internal arrangements to the double-platform bogey cars at present in use in Auckland." Mr. G. W. Russell said the discussion had made it. manifest that the House could -not legislate for overy type oi car. What should be done was tu leave the decision as to whether cars w'ere safe or not to the Minister of Public Works or an officer the Minister should appoint. The proviso was,added to the Bill. Mr. G. Witty moved to add a new clause providing that 110 step of a cai should be more than 14 inches from th< ground, and that- on/cars where there are two steps tho stops- should not b< more than 14 inches apart. The clause was agreed to. The Bill was reported with amendments. The House rose at 0.40 a.m.