TRANSPORT RELIEF

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 603, 4 March 1929, Page 1

TRANSPORT RELIEF

BUSES, CARS AND TAXIS SPEEDY ORGANISATION Rapid work by gangs rushed to IViount Eden Road before the main crowds of business people were c iy-bound resulted in a quick j c.oarance of the • tramway tracks. At ten minutes past eight this morning the first tram was able to leave Mount Eden terminus for the city. Prior to this, the Transport Board .ad sent five special buses out to the terminus to cope with the rush. At first, one or- • two of them ran from the terminus to the section at the foot of the mountain, but it was not long before a relief service between the terminus and Symonds Street was established. All the buses were sought eagerly | by the public. It was the workmen i in the early morning who suffered ! most. They wondered what had ! become • of the early trams. Buses took them as far as the mountain and then they had an unpleasant journey along a road littered with debris and covered with scoria! and mud. At one stage, four trams were waiting at the Symonds Street end of ihe mud zone to go through to the waiting Mount Eden residents. Taxicabs ploughed briskly through the slush and were commandeered by business, men. Some business men . hastened back for their private cars. RUSH FOR DOMINION ROAD When residents in the vicinity of Mount Eden Road found what was amiss with the service, many hastened to Dominion Road to catch trams on that route. Valley Road, the main link between Mount Eden and Dominion Roads, was thronged with hurrying business people. Telephone calls for taxi services were so numerous that, at one stage, a line of cabs was waiting to plough through the mud area. More thoughtful drivers avoided this by reaching the main residential section of Mount Eden by travelling through lesser streets. Enterprising taximen were waiting for fares in the vicinity of the terminus. From Symonds Street, the curious from other suburbs poured in their hundreds and congestion threatened on more than one occasion. Even people from the outer suburbs, who were deposited by train at Mount Eden station, could not resist joining a growing crowd at the Symonos Street end of the mud area. Officials of the Transport Board consider that no great inconvenience was caused to the business crowds. They are congratulating themselves on the dispatch with which a temporary service was instituted. UNLUCKY SHOPMEN The p°onle who really didn t appredate the novelty of it all were the unfortunate shopkeepers in the depression in Mount Eden Road, immediately below the mountain. They were using- shovels to rid their shops of the liberal, scoria deposit. From the point of view of the Transport Board. the occurrence proved how an efficient relief service can quickly be brought into operation. INQUIRY PROBABLE CONTRUCTION COMPANY’S VIEWS Interviewed this morning by THE SUN, Mr. James Fletcher one of the principals of the Fletcher Construction Company, which was building the new reservoir, mentioned the possibility of an inquiry into the breaking of the old ; dam. i *1 consider that an inquiry is most j probable," he said. ‘My firm does not

iyet know' the amount of damage to the .new dam, and until this is known, it is inot prepared to make a full statement ion the position.” Mr. Fletcher said that the company Iliad immediately set about investigating the position. He thought it would be several days before the company Would be able to make a complete statement of the damage. The company, he said, was under contract to the City Council for the construction of the new reservoir. Work had been in progress about three imonths and considerable advance bad been made. “Boxing and steel work were ripped away,” Mr. Fletcher said, “and heavy losses may be expected. The damage is serious from our point of view.”

PREVENTIVE MEASURES MR. E. H. POTTER ON DISASTER NO COMMENT ON CAUSE “Everything will CT’tainly be Tone to prevent residents being .roubled by a similar happening,” .aid the Mayor of Mount Eden, ,V 1 r.. E. H. Potter, to THE SUN this morning. Mr. Potter said that emergency arrangements were already in hand to j supply the affected area. All Mount ’ Eaen and other parts of Auckland had suffered. “With Mr. Woolley, chairman of the works committee, 1 inspected the damage this morning,” Mr. Potter said. “The damage is considerable. I went all over the parts where damage has taken place. “The Mount Eden Borough Council, of course, is going to have all the details of the happening placed before it. I expect a report to come forward at a meeting of the council this evening. “Mr. W. E. Bush, the city engineer, made his inspection this morning, and Mr. J. A. C. Allum, chairman of the waterworks committee of the City Council, has given out his assurance that everything possible will be done immediately. “The engineer for Mount Eden is now going into facts in connection with the old reservoir, and he is also arranging the plans and specifications of the reservoir that was being built for presentation to the council. They may come forward this evening. “Tt is certain that everything possible will be done by the council to collect full on the position.” Mr. Potter said that he did not know of the likelihood of an inquiry, and had no comment to make on the cause of the breakage.