EASY CLIMBING

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2874, 12 September 1916, Page 7

EASY CLIMBING

TO THE TERRACE PER CAR

A PENDING SCHEME

Easier access to tho high lauds of the City, particularly those adjacent to the City, has agitated tho minds of numerous City Councils, but the idea never got past words. There was a time, not so many years ago, when what is now Kclburn was specifically known as "Moxham's Farm," but, colloquially, it was not infrequently referred to as Siberia. Its wind-swept hillsides and awful roads—the way up was through tho old Roman Catholic cemetery—made it regarded as impossible as a place of residence. Thero were peoplo who had lived in Wellington all thoir lives, and had never scaled the Kclburn heights, and. regarded those.who did as hardy, half-crazed mortals who ought to know better. It was not tho height or tho aspect that restrained people from ascending the hills, but it was the difficulty of access. It was quite enough to climb as far as Clifton or Aurora Terrace without "alpining" any higher. Then Wellington boomed, antj a man with a big. idea saw possibilities in the closecropped hill-top paddocks, where William Moxham grazed his cows and lived content with all the world. The idea soon meant a company, and the company bought tip tho elevated farm, and obtained a concession to run a cablo tramway right from the middle of Lambton Quay to tho top of the hill. Now Moxham's Farm is probably the most favoured suburb in Wellington. • That would never have been the case had not someone's brains devised the Kelburn-Karori tramway. Now another scheme is being considered that will case the burden of the hill-dwellers, but in this case tho object is not to open up the high lands for residential purposes so much as it is to make Wellington Terrace and its precincts more easily accessible. It is now some five years ago since it was suggested that it/ would be quite feasible to "elevate" peoplo from the lower to the higher levels, and, as is usually the case, there was a good deal of smiling discouragement exhibited towards the idea, then considered extreme. A little' later some private citizens' (who had carefully considered tho flow of humanity, up and down St. Church Street, and Plimmer's Steps), offered to erect the necessary passenger elevators,, and run them if the city would grant them a concession. The city would not, neither would it do the work itself—until this year, when tho sum of'£2soo was placed upon the estimates (to come out of tramway revenue, tho Mayor hinted at the last meeting of the council) for the prosecution of the scheme. Plans were prepared by tho City Engineer last year, whereby a tunnelled way was to liave been made at the foot of the Church Street stops, and the lift was to ascend to the level of the Terrace from that point. It is understood that further consideration of the matter has resulted in an alteration in the whole design, and that instead of verticalaction elevators, it might be better to have a couple of cars (each a counterweight to the other by means of a connecting wire rope, as in the ease of (the Kelburn-Karori tramway, to ascend a trestled-track from a point near Compton's Mill (at tho junction of Church and Boulcott Streets) to the Wellington Terrace, the cars to be impelled by electricity drawn from the municipal power-house. Various viows are hold as to the prospects of such a scheme paying its way. What the' approximate cost of 'such'a scheme will be cannot be known until Mr. Morton presents his report> but if it is as reasonable as certain members of tho council claim it to bo, and the material is available, there is not much doubt that sufficient business will bo ■ done on "tho penny chute" to warrant the' new noist. Others hold the view that the initial difficulty will bo to induce the public who reside on the Terraco to walk as far as Church Street to got a ride up the hill. As against that ono councillor says that houses on and in the vicinity of The Terrace are not occupied by three or four people, but thero aro many sizeable boardinghousos containing from 20 to 30 people, and he maintains that niost or The Terrace dwellers would sooner pay a penny in the electric tram than toil up St. John's or the Church Street Steps. In the meantime the public, is advised tiiat the "hoist" lias passed tho joko stage, and the council intend to spend money on it if the conditions are favourable.