The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1907. THE CARTAGE OF METAL.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2074, 28 December 1907, Page 2

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1907. THE CARTAGE OF METAL.

"When Mr IV. L. Rees furnishes the Cook County Council with tho names of those who, he asserts, will be accepted as ample guarantee in connection with his tramway scheme, that body will iiave for its consideration a most important matter. Mr Rees undertakes to lay down a tramway tliat will touch both Waihirore and Patutahi, and bring metal from those places at about a quarter of the present cost and at tho same time save tlio excessive wear and tear caused by the metal supplies coming over the main roads. It is an attractive proposal, and if carried into effect, womld largely 6olvo tho perennial question of bad roads in the town and suburbs.

Mr Rees agrees to land Patutahi metal in town at 2b fid per yard and Wailiirero at 2s. What this means may be gathered from the fact that tho Borough Council is paying 8s per yard for present supplies and .will have to pay 8s 6d in the future, whilst the Harbor Board is paying 9s lOd. Tho company Mr Itecs is representing is willing to put down .'a- thoroughly satisfactory tramway complying with all the conditions of the Tramway Act at- a cost of £27,000, and will then undertake to accept a 21 years’ lease at a prico that will cover interest and sinking fund and an additional 1\ per cent on tho cost of tho scheme as a feo to th© Council. A condition of tho lease will be that the .Company carts metal for th© County and Borough at tho rates mentioned. ,It must also bo borno in mind that such a tramway, whilst primarily intended for the carriage of metal, would also be available for passenger traffic, and in this connection it is well to note that the maximum fares chargeable are fixed by statute, so that persons living on the route could depend upon transit to and from town at an exceedingly low figure. 'To be of any substantial benefit in providing handy communication for settlers -of tho Ormond, Wailiirero, Patutahi and neighboring districts some proviso would have to be made regarding the frequency of trips, but tho reasonableness of the fares is secured by the decrees of the Government, which does not relish competition with its own railways. The more one looks into this scheme the greater do the possible benefits appear, but its most obvious attraction at the moment is the prospect it gives of solving our metal problem. Even tlio lack of an efficient harbor is not more prejudicial to tho advancement of this town and district than is tho shocking coiulitionof our streets and roads. They have always been bad, and recently when the increase of population and wealth should have brought about an improvement we find tilings worse than ever. If complaint is made we are referred to ti e old trouble of getting metal at a reasonable cost, and so acute lias this difficulty become that our representatives on the local bodies seem to have almost lost heart and apparently to have despaired of ever being able to effect an improvement. At this stage '.Mr Rees comes along very opportunely . with .his trainway scheme. It is no new scheme, but this is the first occasion upon which it Ins been put forward in such definite shape. ]f .Mr 'Rees provides guarantees that the Council is justified in accepting there will he absolutely uo excuse for holding hack. There will then be only one alternative, to tile acceptance, of Mr Rees’ offer. That would be for the bodies interested to construct and run the tramway themselves, and this is certainly a phase of -the question that is -worthy of careful thought. If a private syndicate considers it worth while to come forward with such an offer it can he taken for granted that the financial position of the undertaking is sound, and that being the case there is every reason why the bodies referred io should make their own tramway and cart their own metal. If on the other hand I the project- is beset with many complications it may be wise to leave the risk with others, particularly as the scheme proposes to allow the local bodies to take possession upon giving three months’ .notice. It is to lie hoped tint when the County Council meets again Mr Rees will have forwarded the necessary guarantees so that tho Council can then discuss the whole matter as a definite and practical scheme proposing to settle once, and for aR the vexed question of the metal supply for this district.

THE DI-AN G ARAB A . SCHOOL.

Tho mooting of Mangapapa householders last night was certainly not guilty of extravagant language in wording the resolution which it has framed for the.consideration of the Premier. It is without a doubt scandalous that tho representations of the'committee should have been treated as they have in the past. Tho facts are clear enough. The regulations of the Department are being broken every day tho school is open, the health of the children and teachers is in- consequence seriously threatened, and although these facts -have been known to tho Minister for months, he has taken no action towards remedying them. It is truo ho lias sent a letter and a telegram promising to visit the school on some unmontionod date, but promises of this kind are not what is .wanted at this stage. The Mangapapa people are in tho xiosition that they have a right to demand immediate action in tho direction of arranging proper accommodation for their children at school. .Let the Minister sanction the necessary additions, and lie can then delay his inoposed visit as long as ho likes; no one will complain; but to keep a matter of such vital import standing over whilst lie goes galivanting up and down tho Dominion is nothing les3 than intolerable. It is now nearly three montlis since Dir. Fowlds promised to visit tho district to look into tin's matter, and so far as present prospects indicate another three months may go by before lie arrives. Under the circumstances the householders are taking a proper course in sending a- protest direct to tlio Premier. If Sir Joseph and tlio Minister of Education have tlio discernment with, which they are usually credited they will recognise that there is a line beyond which it is not safe to provoke any section of tlio community, and that this stage lias been readied in the caso of tlio .Mangapapa householders.