NEW PLYMOUTH-ITE ABROAD.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 64, 4 August 1914, Page 6

NEW PLYMOUTH-ITE ABROAD.

DEVELOPMENT OP THE MOTOR. 'BUS Writing to a friend in New Plymouth, Mr Walter Hcwlcy, who is at present on a visit to England, says:— Xo ft- perhaps you will be. interested to* hear what 1 have to think of the KKttur bu* quesUf n, after having bad s closer acquaintance witli tlie.m, though not jrt a long or extended acquaintance. Well, 1 am an ore than ever convinced that New Plymouth is making a great mistake. In the first place, to say that we have any hills on the Fitzroy-Break-water section that they arc unfit To negotiate, is nothing more or less than a lie. On such a route as the Crystal Palace anil other routes, they are dealing with hills equal to any of ours. Then with regard to the wear and tear, this also is entirely misrepresented. Tliero is no doubt that on the macadam roads that have, simply been surface tarred, the wear has been heavy, but here again it is somewhat difficult to make tiie position quite plain. 1 have been over some ol these roads that have been said to be in a terribly bad condition from an Knglish point of view, accustomed to the absolute perfection of the asphalted street and tin: excellent condition of the wood pavements, but they are not a bit worse than Devon street, "and to reach that condition, has not been a matter of a few months, but if a year or two. If you look the motor 'buses off these damaged streets, there would be a traffic infinity greater than ours—hundreds of heavy motors and a. great deal of heavy and light horse traffic. Then again, the 'bus traffic in an hour would equal our 'bus traffic in a week. I enclose one of the timetables. From the particulars on the back you will see that the services are for one up to fiftten minutes, but this does not represent all the 'bus traffic on that particular road, as there will be numbers of other 'buses that take that road also as part of their route. These 'buses even in the outskirts are for the most part full and tarry l'G inside and 20 oil the top. We should be running, a .half hour service, I suppose, which would be empty the greater part of the day, with about lour cars from about 7 o'clock to 10. They would carry the whole population every day, which it is ridiculous to slippose would be done. It would, therefore, be unnecessary to run so many trips, afow'mgi for the time of pressure, .morning an dl'Vsuing. le would probably, therefore,be unnecessary t<" have more that foul- 'buses on the route, and to compare the damage they would do to the roads with what the 'bus traffic does to tan-fd roads round London is absolutely ridiculous.

I read that motor-'bus services are being extended throughout the. country, but of them and tlie conditions I hope I. shall liave opportunities to get a more intimate knowledge. There is one thing that 1 have noticed that where there is a 'bus service alom? a tramline, and this you always see. the 'bus invariably gets there first, also that the. 'bus gets the largi i >i traffic. On Sunday, the streets are almost empty compared with week days, as only special 'bus services into the outskirts run for the most part, but just as a matter of curiosity I counted the number of 'le.ises passeing in live minutes,and there were 24 or 2fiS an hour, and on week days there would have been ten times tins number.

it is curious how mucli further Xmv Zealand is from • KiijiKind than England is t i'o: ti Xow Zealand. In Now Zealand, we arc in daily touch with the cables from I'highuid, but here \vc :hear nothing fr< 111 New Aciiiaui!.. As a matter of fai l there is nothim; in our small affairs to interest. kn»land or [in,rope; in fact from this distance, one realises the true proportionate position of Xew Zealand in the world, and in the face of these natural drawbacks to attracting people and capital, how foolish it is of the I.abor party to put air,- artificial obstructions ill the way'of what is the life blood of a, voting country'! One is struck also here in London by the policy of such places as Canada, and Queensland in particular, who lay themselves out by the attractive display of their products in well placed windows in different parts where visitors and others most do congregate.

1 have been doing a lot of theatres, el.-., out hav" not seen anything verv striking, though several very excellent performances, the best of which is perhaps "Kismet," with Oscar A.-.che ami Lilly P.rayton. 1 had the misfortune, however, to strain my knee when seeing the final of the Golf Amateur Championship, and it has proved rather slow in mending ami latterly has limited my power of getting about. 1 hope New Plymouth is going to enter on a new period of prosperity with the. berthing of the first big boat, the account of which j am looking forward to receiving and that all will go without a The suffragettes and Ireland iust, about occupy all the people's interest Iho lorn,or have reached the limit of t !C public s endurance and they net the rough treatment they deserve wh"uWd th ° y !lttom,>t to " ulko tlK'niselves With regard to Ireland, it is a sorrv result of Asquitli's and Redmond's handling and advocacy of Home Rule that there are now two Trish armies faeincauh otihur in Ireiiand. "