“ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED”

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 819, 13 November 1929, Page 7

“ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED”

MT. ROSKILL ATTACKS TRANSPORT BOARD STRONG PROTEST MADE 1 A alruim prutest asuinst lbtram lan s uilU a . nli.-1.-m of tliu i'raiis port Hoard anil all n - | work*, "us a mdi r ial foaturo of tin. | proi-. r.lints ~r tin, Mount Ko.-Un! I Hoau Hoard at its meeting last o\t u'l'ho rliairrnan, Mr. il. [■'. Junes. I ar-'-iita-d ihu board of harinji Ij Iriu J ;«!•« suburban local bodies. It bad pi : . . n |.«u assutanc«j some months au> to ;i jd« pulution ltom the KuuU Board that |it would not increase tram litres. It I lu, vl deputation that tin Road terminus would not bo more than j 3s Dd a week, and now it proposed to i extract a further 8d a week from the S ratepayers* pockets. It had miserably failed to provide efficient transport to and from .Mount ; Koskill and was directly responsible for tlio stagnation of the district. It i 11 -'d called tor suggestions for the :m- ---! provement of the tramways, yet when I tho local bodies had offered the tl.it . ,b' • ri ti. at-'d with o.nfrmpt. i i "i U»< Transport #• •rd been constituted as .'u eiectii* body, he was convinced that thqx present losses would never have bean incurred. lie *od that iii<m bdurd contemX to ">iiuiirc"*lt s balance sheet, 1,1,1 't would amount t-. double tne i ite. “Why should the suburbs bi l•• Mil .1 tvith tin.-, incubus?” A of having oul o»ib waj to anta o ! nisii th,- suhuthan districts and ■ «>v ly eritieisi df th,- action ' fl " suburb;,n representatives on the 1 “’ I ‘d Mt btting their <•« uistit lien ts d.-au and of having gone over to the '•ity. -Had they been men of backbone •nd vision." lie 9 lid, "the existing lntiddh n« ver w ould hav •• occurred.” lie contended that it was the suburbs that kept the city going and he was j determined that the rights of the suburbs should l>e protected. "Tho Transport Board will yet find 1 out that the city does not end at the top of Symonds Street,” lie concluded, when moving tho vote of protest. Mr. E. \V. Foote, in seconding the motion, was of opinion that the Transport Board would rather lose iJG.OOU or TJ 7,000 a year on buses than allow sound business men to take over the services. "I am absolutely disgusted with the actions of Messrs. Rhodes and Wood,” lu> declared. Mr. S. Scarborough: Ret us copy the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, and hold it prayer meeting in front of the Transport Board’s office. Mr. K. A. Pearce, chairman of the Works Committee, would not believe that the Buckland Rond bus service lid not pay. If it were losing money Iho board should be glad to get rid of t. Ho condemned the board hotly for having failed t*. put the question of a flat rate to a vote of ratepayers. Members of that board, he said, were continually whining that they were being badgered and hampered. "Then,” ho asked, “why don’t they get out of it?” Their present policy, 110 contended, was turning tho city of Auckland into a nest of slums. The Transport Board found at least Dne friend in Mr. G. E. Tansley, who onsidered that the existing industrial iepression and shortage of money was at the bottom of the board’s losses. Uo considered that the board had never been given it chance to function properly. It had been hindered in its work by too much interference from outside. Mr. It. Sanft accused the tramway management of inefficiency and quoted instances where buses were stationary for long periods, earning no money while their engines were k€'pt running rind wages going on all the time. Mr S. I. Goodall supported him by remarking that there was room for considerable internal reform in tramway management. The protest was carried, Air. Tansley being the only dissentient.