WHAT THE TRAMS WILL DO.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 63, 3 August 1914, Page 2

WHAT THE TRAMS WILL DO.

THE PASSING OF THE OMNIBUS.

(By Juvcnis)

"I say, driver, wait a minute while I pick up a parcel, will you?" How often one '.has heard that remark during the years that the suburbs of New Plymouth have been served by a homely horse 'bus, and none thought or any other means of conveying himself and his im-. pedimenta to suburbia, or of taking feminine suburbia out to pay calls on "flr.it Wednesday's, or second Tuesday's, or seventh Saturday's" or what other day was mentioned on the enigmatical visiting card. The coming of the trams means the passing of the homely 'bus and it will take New Plymouth quite a while to got used to the change. The 'bus driver, for the most part, is an obliging and complacent individual, even when small hoys ride on the steps for nothing and old ladies give him his fare in deliberately counted coppers punctuated with enquiries. Leisurely atl'airs most of the 'bases are. too, for they have no "point" man to upbraid them, so there is always time to pi.-k up that parcel you have forgotten. Small boys are despatched ahead <,i adipose aunts like Ted flags Ivforo the traction engine to ask the iiinv to "please wait a minute until I ;,t there." And the 'bus waits, and none minds much except the man who has to get lunch and catch the next 'bus back, and doesn't see that ihe pays his weekly 2s lid for this. The driver will undertake to buy suburbia's dinner whil'e ho waits for the time to return, and not a few housewives have cause to thank the genial 'bus man for such favors. There was a 'bus once which ran from New Plymouth to a place not a 100 miles from the beach where the ironsand comes from. The 'bus from town pulled up at a shady spot just this side of the breakwater, and the driver got down. All the passengers got out. too because they thought it was the 'bus' terminus. But is was just a "spot" and the terminus was further on. Good old 'bus, some of the oldsters will miss it. We of the'younger generation sigh for the pushful trams. Voung suburbia, too, knows the 'bus as an old friend. In his extreme youth he has been taken riding by the genial driver. Later lie went to the school on the 'bus, and as In; fought with his comrades for the right to ride in the step he cherished a sewrct ambition he might one day drive the 'bus. Young suburbia took a keen interest in the war which took place on the principal 'bus route ten years or so ago. It loomed large in !his limited horizon. It was bigger than the Battle of the Boyne or the Battle of "Wiaireka. The same hoys were hot partisans, and argued fiercely as to which 'bus to patronise and when "Aloe" came along with his new road car, and rival 'buses patrolled the Fit/,-roy-Now Plymouth route, their excitement knew no bounds. Then there was the time when "horse feed went up," and so did the 'bus fares. Curiously enough, they never came down again, but suburbia never murmured, or if it did, it was but a murmur, nor did they mind much when the 'bus was mysteriously missing on race days while the drivers reaped a harvest, "Here you are now, right away to the course." The 'bus has had its day, or very nearly so, and when the trams come, "elderly ladies, belated shoppers, and small boys will find the bustling tram less easy going and obliging that the homely 'bus. The trams spell progress, and progress is good, but the 'bus has its swan-song nevertheless.