TRAMWAYS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 94, 6 September 1912, Page 4

TRAMWAYS.

Now that the Greater New Plymouth scheme has been consummated, consideration can be given to the question of installing a tramways system. It will, we think, be generally conceded that if New Plymouth is to move ahead and keep abreast of other towns of the Dominion and not lag hopelpssly in the rear, some system of tramways is needed. More than that, the main incentive to the suburbs agreeing to absorption by the borough was the prospect of the early installation of trams, and the Council is therefore committed to, : at any rate, placing proposals before the ratepayers with that object in view. It is when we come to deciding upon the system most suitable for our present and future—more future than present—requirements that there is likely to be any' serious difference of opinion. It is for the Borough Council to closely . investigate the different systems, obtain all the data available appertaining to them, and place before ratepayers what ; they consider the most suitable system. A year or two ago there was but one system .worthy bf consideration. It had been tried and not found wanting. We refer to the overhead electric system, with which most are familiar. Its only drawback so far as installing it in a small town is concerned is-its.cost. Whether a town of the size and importance of New Plymouth is justified in undertaking the heavy cost its introduction would entail is a point upon which i ratepayers have to be sa-tisfied. It may be found after investigation of the other systems that the overhead is the best for the town; that the heavy initial cost will prove the cheapest in the long run. Then there is the Edison-Beach storage battery car, which Gisborne is installing. A model car of this kind is now in Sydney, but there is trouble over, fixing the duty, and until this is settled the representatives appointed by the New Plymouth Borough Council cannot start on their visit of inspection. If the claims of the makers can be made good, this type of car will suit us admir'ably, 'being within our reach financially and doing the same work as the more expensive overhead car. Then there is the petrol-electric car system, a combination, as the name implies, of the petrol engine and electric power. This system is said to be suitable for large or small towns, and is making considerable headway in various parts of Europe. Again, there is the motor 'bus, which is becoming exceedingly popular in Europe. Even in London the motor 'bus is making severe inroads into the earnings of the municipally-owned electric tramways. According to the estimates of the tramways authorities themselves, the profits for the current year will, as a result of the competition of the motor 'bus, be one-third less. "The motor 'bus, costing only a fraction of its rival, able to go where the tramway , cannot, able to be shifted freely from district to district, quicker and cheaper, 1 is contesting its position on the streets of London everywhere," says one critic. One company alone, which has now 1750 'buses on the streets, proposes by the ■ end of next summer to have increased 1 the number to 4000. So serious has the position become, that Sir John Benn, leader of the Progressive Party, is anxious to throttle the motor 'bus companies by specially taxing them for road maintenance and by preventing them running along the tram routes, The i London County Council, however, would 1 have none of it, and the motors are continuing on their victorious course. The conditions for motor 'busses in London ■ are, of course, different to what they '■ would be in New Plymouth. There they have smooth, paved roads and no hills. In New Plymouth our roads arc 1 none too good and some of the gradients fairly stiff. Whether a motor 'bus setf vice would be practicable has yet to be 1 demonstrated, but the fact that the sysI tern is seriously affecting, if not oust- ; ing, a strongly entrenched competitor like the overhead electric system, and the fact that it costs so little to instal, entitles it to the most careful consideration at the hands of the Borough Council, which should waste no time in dealing 1 with the whole question.