The Daily News. FRIDAY, JANUARY 31, 1913. MOTOR-BUSES OR TRAMS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 216, 31 January 1913, Page 4

The Daily News. FRIDAY, JANUARY 31, 1913. MOTOR-BUSES OR TRAMS.

We hope the ratepayers of New Plymouth who are being asked to endorse a proposal to borrow £55.000 for installing overhead electric trannvays are reading and taking due note of the points raised by Mr. Walter Bewlev in our columns. Mr. Bewley, like the News, is not satisfied that adequate attention has been paid by the Council to the claims and merits of the motor-bus, and that the Council has been somewhat precipitative in accepting Mr. Black's recommendations in connection with the overhead electric trams. And he" advances very sound arguments and reasons in support of his belief. He lias not as yet said all there is to be said on the side he has taken up, but what he has already said should be sufficient to open the eyes of ratepayers and cause them tu give the subject the thought its importance merits. Mr. Bewley, it is quite clear, is actuated bv no captious motive. He is just as progressive in his views as any of the sponsors of the electric trams, and desires to see the town advance, only differing from them in regard to the lines to be followed. He has dealt with the subject in a dispassionate, logical manner, and he has established a case that calls for a reply from the Mayor and councillors who are fathering the electric scheme. The rate-

payors oaniiol have too much information on a matter of such vital concern to them, and the freer the discussion of the points for and against the scheme the better will be the understanding of ratepayers when it conies to voting. The Council surely cannot be satisfied to leave the question, so far as they are concerned, with the publishing of Mr. Black's reports. That is too much like asking ratepayers to buy a pig in a poke, and a pretty heavy pig at that. The loan proposals are being advertised, ■ but we notice no meeting of ratepayers

is called to discuss them. While such a course is not obligatory by law, it is surely advisable to adopt it in a matter of such extreme importance as this. We hope that the Mayor will take this view, and call a meeting without delay. Then he would have the opportunity of putting forth the case in favor of electric trams and answering the questions which Mr. Bewloy is asking, and which the News will certainly ask before it is satisfied that the wisest course to be followed in the matter of street transit is that which the Council is advising the ratepayers to' sanction.