Tram-Track Perils

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 221, 7 December 1927, Page 8

Tram-Track Perils

RESULT OF CONCRETE ROADS Mount Albert Indignant THE latest local body to deliver a kick at the Auckland City Tramways is Mount Albert Borough Council, which was last evening revealed in petulant mood when the condition of tram tracks at Kingsland was under discussion. That the tracks were dangerous, and a disgrace to the borough, was the verdict of councillors.

VEVERTHELESS, it is extremely: doubtful if the Mount Albert Council will be able to force the city to take action. Covering the disposition of the tram tracks extending into all such foreign territory is the ponderous deed of delegation, binding the j local l odv concerned to a responsi-: bility for the condition of tram tracks j affected by alterations to permanent j road levels. This, according to the corporation viewpoint, applies to Mount Albert. The state of the Kingsland tram rails, the chief cause of complaint, is held to he due to a roading schedule which has failed to leave the rails flush with

the road. Levels were admittedly altered when Mount Albert undertook to replace Its macadam with concrete, and concrete’s camber, being materially less than that of macadam, is another complicating factor. THE POPULAR MOOD ' City tramway officials incline to the view that Mount Albert’s attack is but another sample of the hostility of neighbouring local bodies. This attitude, of course, reflects suburban dissatisfaction with existing transport arrangements. Mr. W. A. Ford, tramways manager, said this morning that the deed of delegation quite clearly covered the position, and certified fjie responsi-

btlity of local bodies. The city -was quite anxious to improve tram tracks wherever possible, but there was no appropriation by which they could effect the improvements sought at. Kingsland, nor even meet the Mount Albert Council half way. BRAKE ON RECONSTRUCTION Mr. J. A. C. Allum, chairman of the Tramways Committee, endorsed the reference to the deed of delegation, but added'that the council was, nevertheless, undertaking a re-laying of tram tracks wherever possible. Before bus competition reduced the revenue this work was bei .g prosecuted at a fairly rapid rate and the expenditure a year was up to £650.000. Unfortunately the result of bus competition was less money to spend, and a slowing up in the process was inevitable. In 1926 it was accelerated again after the raising of a £IOO,OOO loan for the relief of unemployment, after a conference between the City Council and Government, but was once more retarded when the ratepayers rejected the halfmillion tramway loan submitted to them in August. Over 100 men were then dismissed by the department, as it bad no money with which to keep them on, and as the borrowed £IOO,OOO is now practically all expended, a further 35 will probably be put off shortly after Christmas. Conditions similar to those which have excited Mount Albert’s ire exist at Remuera, Mount Eden, and in other parts of the city. As at Mount Albert, they have been created by reconstruction of roads, or else are due to the sheer senility of old tracks. Motorists, motor-cyclists and pedestrians all experience the distress of encountering a raised iron rail when they are traversing the road, and for motor-cyclists and pedestrians the contingency is often particularly dangerous and painful. KINGSLAND’S COMPLAINT Conditions at Kingsland were first publicly illuminated when complaints were sent to the Mount Albert Borough Council by the Kingsland Business Association. Passing on the complaint the Borough Council received from the city the reply that permanent improvement at the points mentioned could be done only by reconstruction, for which there was at present no financial provision. Mount Albert has now decided to make a further request and to take other action if the request is again refused. Discussing this decision this morning, Mr. Allum said Mount Albert had already been fully apprised of the position, and until circumstances altered, there was nothing more to be said.