STREET TRAMWAYS.

Evening Star, Issue 3993, 11 December 1875, Page 1 (Supplement)

STREET TRAMWAYS.

To the Editor, SIR, —In a report of the sitting of the City Council, Mr John \L‘Gregor, C.E., ia represented as having submitted a plan of street tramways from the Botanical Gardens to the Ocean Beach at Turbary, provided the Council gave him exclusive concession for ten years within the City boundary, and provided the Road Hoards or Corporations granted a similar concession over the remainder of the lino outside the City; and he would be prepared to submit details of construction ami terms to work the line, r, c. To my astonishment the ‘ Times ’ (that boasted champion of public opinion), in Its sub-leader this morning, tries dirret in the face of the idea of street tramways. I am afraid the ‘ Times ’ will find its opinions fifty years behind the age. The ‘Times’ says:—'“We have therefore to sum up all we have previou ly said in as few words as possible. We have shown that, as Ear as our knowledge goes (how modest), there is no City in the world in analogous circumstances to ' Dunedin at the present time, where the system has proved to bo successful ” Will the ‘ i imes ’ point out a single City in the world analogous to Dunedin at the present time ? The ‘ Times ’ refers to tire costly experiment made in Sydney, and the storm raised by the tradesmen and inhabitants along its lino of route that led to taking up the rails, ftc. Now, Mr Editor, so far as cost is concerned, Mr Ai‘Gregor professes to bear that, and in respect to the tradesmen along its route, I am of opinion that the inhabitants will eat and drink as much, and wear as nr ny clothes with a street tramway as without one. The ‘ Times ’ says show us why what has proved a failure elsewhere in the colonies will be a success here, and wo withdraw all further objections at once. I will answer this by asking two questions Ist. Did you support the Ocean Beach i :adway as a necessity, and if it was to pay, why will a tramway not? 2. Was the Sydney line taken up because it did not pay, or why ? In respect to the retail •hops and business places along the line, is it not possible that Mr M‘Gregor’s plana may take the line of < umberlund s’r>-ot, Crawford street, through the Recreation Ground, past Kensington, up past railway workshops, through Kew, And along to Forbury, which would be an invaluable boon to residents along that route, without in any way interfering with retail shopkeepers, although I am of opinion that retail shopkeepers and all othera in the City will hail the tramway proposed as an invaluable luxury, I wib for one,—l am, &c., T. A, Dunedin, December 10,« ’