TRAMWAY EXTENSION

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 231, 24 June 1919, Page 7

TRAMWAY EXTENSION

A MELROSE REQUEST FOUR HUNDRED ACRES FOR RESIDENCES There is a very large.area of elovated country between Newtown Park and Houghton.and Lyall Bays lying ready to tho hand of the home-builder in Wellington who does not wish to be crowded in the city. This was made abundantly clear by a deputation which' waited on tho Tramways' Committee of ; tho City Council yesterday afternoon to put lorivard the claims of that portion of Melrose district to a tramway service. Speaking on behalf of the residents, Ml'. Cox-said that whilst the construr;tiou of a lino right through tho district to the bay might hot be a necessary work,' the laying-down- of a track fromthe "Zoo" gates to tho crest of' the hill was ah urgent and important work. There they would'find a largo vacant area of land highly'suitablo for building on. and if the land- were'so utilised'it would go far to remove the difficulties of.the housing question in Wellington. _ If that land could, be acquired at the price it was offered three years ago, and then offered to the public when a tramway servicfc Tva6 arranged, the cost of the extension could bo paid for out of the increased value of tho land. The district was quite near to tho trainsheds at Newtown ana Lyall Bay, and the land'was ideally suited to picturesque and healthy homes, Tho members'of the deputation -recognised that there were other districts to'bss: 'served, but strongly recommended thin one, as they wero convinced it would pay. Most of the residents wore ratepayers.wlio deserved consideration, and the; ■were one and all confident that the line ■would pay " its way. They urged the ex.tension, too, as it was only a ono, the distance only' half-a-milo froih the "Zoo" to the top of the lull, and part' of the lino would go through Newtown Park. Soma residents were prepared to offer. 20ft. strips of land to the council to facilitate the road-widening, and if the bill at thoHop were lowered a little a-good grade could be secured'the■whole of the way. - Such a line would also serve as a connecting linn, between Berhampore and Newtowri (by way , of Russell Terrace) to the hills and llje bays beyond. Then if the tramway sectionu liad to be rea'djusted, as was thought probable, the new section might tye made to take in- the "Zoo. J " At present people were afraid of the dangers of the Park Road, but with a'tramway service thai sort of thing would be removed. Councillor P. Prnser-asked if the last reference was to residents of the locality. Mr..Cox: Oh, no; strainers to the district. , . • Councillor (v. Frost remarked that quire, recently Sutherland. Roai. had.been widened, graded, and- lighted in places. _ In reply to a question, Mr. Cox ; said tfee were 400 acres of good building land available at. a cheap rate for residentialpurposes. That land had been cut up and sold in sections 22 years ago, ana rates had been paid on it ever sinoe. The chairman (Mr. J, P; Luke) stated that while : the matter was before committee he had to bo conservative. The committee was-fully seized of the neces sity which existed to develop and extend the tramway services to serve a greater population than they had tq-daj. In his opinion Wellington was going to grow in a. much greater ratio than it did before the war—it was to grow very quickIv for the next tew year's. As a council they had to look at. these questions largely from a financial point of view, 'lne first claim for consideration as regards tramways was the relaying of; the track along Lambton Quay, .and after that the duplication of the track to Island Bay. As. far as Melroso and Northland." and' also Ngaio,- Khandalla'b, 1 and Vogeltown were concerned, the whole of those claims for train way services were to. Be' considered at an early date. But, first of all, they must have k report from the engineer. They were very pleased to hear there was such an area land so near Wellington, and ('he deputa l flon should first see to was how much tho owners were prepared to put up for an extension of tKe tramways. In the case of land, where there was certain to be ail . enhanced value as the ."result _of it city wort, whether, it was ii .company or private persons, they ought to do their share towards bringing about the desired result. The engineer would bring down a report as soon us possible dealing with extensions, to' all the 'places mentioned, Speaking for himself, oirthe result i.f bis experiences abroad, he would not hesitate a moment in running the trams" to a lot of places near Wellington, when ij; was so certain that settlement must follow the. track.