TRAMWAYS REPORT

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 276, 10 August 1918, Page 9

TRAMWAYS REPORT

FOR THE LAST FINANCIAL YEAR

POWER STATION PLANT AT HIGH PRESSURE

. The annual report of tho tramways I department of iho Wellington City Corporation, ...doited July, came to hand yesterday. As iar as the financial figured are concerned, ou.both sidea of the ledger, a very full and exhaustive summary '■ was.siren some,;months ago. Sufficient to remind tho public is that on an undertaking ivhich involved, a capital of .£758,227 a net profit of J212.606-wns ren-Jised-a iitto ovci' li per cent. If tho power supply ;and public lightin"' accounts .•Uβ included, the capital involved, amounts to £M,M. winch brings the return (in actual profit) down to a fraction over 1 per cent., which can scarcely bo said to be -a big cnouph margin of eaiety. .Tho report, referring to other considerations, says:— Rolling Stock. .... "Owing to the shortage of skilled fforicers and the great difficulty of obtaining material and equipment 'it was found necessary to retain practically the whole of the staff at the Newtown Vorks for • Tepair and maintenance work, and consequently car-building operations wero severely, curtailed. 'Three cars of tho i double'saloon', type ivere, however, completed, and placed in traffic. Includmi; these new cars the rolling stock at llarcj ; 31,.)918, numbered 122 vehicles, comprising 116 passenger cars, two freight ears, two general service cars, and one sprink- ',- ler. Improvements wero effected on a number of the older cars during their ] periodical overhaul, including the instal- ! lation of electric lamps on the top decks 1 ' of the larger decker cars; The use of ! electric arc welding in executing repairs : ; at the workshops has given very satis- I faotory results, and immediately a port- j able plant is available- thia process will, be applied to track repairs also. Work' is well advanced,,.-with the construction i of .another threo cars, and providing ' labour is available, whin these are com- j pleted a similar iiumber will be put in j Land. ' . . | Power Station, Plant. ."With tho exception of the installation of booster sets, no additional | ■ plant was added to the power'station i during the past year. The targo increase injhe volume of traffic handled, in conjunction with heavier demands for power from private consumers, has necessitated the .running of the boiler and generating i plant daily with a considerable overload i throughout tho year. The output of, thu etntion for the year under review was .10,209,165 units, which; compared with . the output of 6,443,598 iunits for tho year •«; ended Starch 31. 1914,, shows an increase . of , nearly CO per cent, obtained from a plant whoso capacity has baon increased ■with one. boiler only sinco tho outbreak of war. ■'. Although it is realised that additional rolling stock should bo in operation at) rush hours to cope with , ,the heavy traffic, there can be no prospect of any improvement until the capacity of tho.generating plant is increased. Tho large increase in the cost of generating currant is duo principally to the advance in the price of coal, which has increased , nearly 56 per cent: since tho war commenced. ■' ..

Direct Current Power Supply. "Daring the latter portion of the year it was found necessary to refuse applications for power, and to restrict extensions to installations already connected to the direct current supply system. Tho number of consumers now connected to this eupply is'3s2, with motors having a total capacity of 5415 horse-power. On account of the large increase .in tho cost of generating current referred to above, tne department was compelled to advance the, price of current to consumers by id. per unit fioni October 1, 1917. A' steady advance in the cost of\ generation has continued since the- last-mentioned date, and consequently the, revenue, from tho sale.of-power has left a small margin ,only over the expenses. If the increase in costs continues it. will probably bo necessary to reconsider ■■ ,tho charging tariff. ; '33,000)000 Fares Collected. --■ ■'"The, total number tif "passengers carthe city tramway system during the year under review was 33,150,953, re- , presenting an luoreaso of nearly 8,000,000 'as compared with the year ended March \Bl. 1914. Assuming the population of thecity and suburbs'at 80,000, the abovo. represents an'average of \U rides per capita. Tho increase in rolling stock during tho'past four years has.not beei. commensurate wiih this kige expansion in traffic, and consequently excessive, overloading now , occurs on practically i>ll routes at' rush hours. As mentioned above, tho -number of cars, which can bo brought into service is now limited by the position at the power station, and - there, is therefore little prospect of any improvement whilst existing conditions last. Although a large proportion of the conductors are youths and men of.short nxperionco in car work, it. is,a pleasing 'feature to record thut a low 'percentago of accidents has' been maintained throughout the year. A minimum '• fare, ■which is now 2a., was brought into force on. Sunday cars in .Tune, 1917, with .1 view to curtailing the. service and thus freeing a larger number of employees on Sundays. This , is the only alteration in the, faro system which has taken place eince the outbreak'of war. Accidents. •"As compared with, previous years, j

there was a considerable reduction in the number of acciaeuts reported, but ud'fortunately in two instances where men were concerned the results proved fatal. At iho inquest in both cases the coroner gave a verdict of 'Accidental death,' with no blame attachable- to the ear employees,"