Tramway Extensions

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 124, 16 August 1927, Page 8

Tramway Extensions

Agreements Between Authorities Ponderous Documents to Be Altered ISSUES to be decided by the Tramway Loan poll to-morrow-are the proposed extensions at Remuera, Point Chevalier. Mount Roskill, and Dominion Road. In these territories the City Council cannot construct further tracks without the sanction of the governing local bodies, and if the extensions are authorised the deeds of delegation will have to be altered.

deed of delegation is a weighty document. In the first place they were compacted between the bodies concerned and the Auckland Electric Tramways Company, which owned the system in 1919. During its proprietorship the tramways company made agreements with a small host of the outer local bodies which have reigned in suburban Auck-

—S. P. Andrew, photo land. It had to negotiate not only with the City Council, but also with the boroughs of Parnell, Grey Lynn, Mount Eden, Mount Albert, and Onehunga, and with the Remuera, Eden Terrace, Mount Roskill, Epsom and One Tree Hill Road Boards. The City Council has absorbed some of the local bodies, and those that still exist retain the original deeds of delegation, and the ponderous documents bear the names of some of the enterprising promoters of the electric tramways scheme. Tramway Formalities In involved legal terms the agreements set out that the interests of both parties shall be thoroughly protected. Thd concessions cover only the routes traversed by the existing tracks, and if to-morrow’s loan is carried, additional formalities must be completed before the works authorised can be begun. Forty-three years ago, when Auckland’s first transport system was instituted, similar requirements had to be complied with. The first trams were horse-drawn —“tram,” by the way, is an abbreviation

of Outram, the pioneer of jthe steel rail —and ran from the tVaij temata Hotel corner to the Ponsonby , Reservoir. The proprietors of the ser- ! vice were the St. Heliers and Xorth- | cote Land Company, which operated ! under an order-in-Council dated Octojber 9, 18S3. | Later came the Auckland Tramways j Company, registered in London in 1599. Hitherto horses had supplied ■ the traction-power. Sturdy draughts, | two abreast, with a leader for the steep pulls, they served Auckland faith- | fully, but the need for something bet- | ter was felt acutely, and electric trams | were welcomed when they appeared In November, 1902. Motormen Drowned i The first breaking of ground for the construction of the permament way took place on August 1, 1901, but tragedy intervened the following year, when several motormen, who were engaged in Sydney, were drowned when coming over on the luckless Elingamite. The catastrophe delayed the opening by six days, but on November 24, 1902, it began operations, running from Queen Street to Three Lamps, via Pitt Street to Karangahape Road. To-day, by contrast, the system extends many miles into the suburbs, j and the latest proposals, if authorised, will add many miles to the total length ; of track. Extensions have been provided for in the roading programmes of the outer local bodies. Dominion Road, Mount Eden and the Great North Road are all paved in two strips of concrete separated by a macadam band which can easily be excavated for the foundation of the permanent way. Suburbs Co-operate As to the alterations to the deeds of delegation—there is hardly likely to be any serious opposition there. The local bodies will welcome the extension of the tram services, which mean better facilities and greater population as a natural corollary, and Messrs. E. H. Potter, Mayor of Mount | Eden, W. C. Coldicutt, Mayor of Onehunga, and L. Rhodes, Mayor of Mount Albert, have all expressed the opinion that no objections will be raised. The position of Mount Roskill, too, is clear. The district Is eagerly awaiting extension of the system, and it is considered that its population will soar when the trams run to Mount Albert Road. The district’s aspirations even run to hopes for a loop line along Mount Albert Road, from Dominion Road to the Manukau Road, and it is anxious to know if, in concreting Mount Albert Road, allowance should be made for track-formation in the future.