THE TRAMS.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 November 1915, Page 4

THE TRAMS.

TO BE PUN ON SUNDAYS. MORNING AND AFTERNOON SERVICE RECOMMENDED. Th; Tramways Committee of (li» Borough Couneii met last night. Present: The Jfavor (chairman), and Ors. 1.. M. Monteath, ,1. 8. S. Medley, ,1. llaydcn, V. K. Wilson, A. H. Johnstone, W. A. Collis, \V. F. Short, F. .J. Hill, S. J. Smith, A. 15, Sykes, J. T. Mannil, and A. F. Watkins

The tramways engineer (Mr. R. H. Hartley) reported on the probability of a Sunday tram service paying. He stated that as to -whether a (Sunday service was going to pay or not depended mainly on two factors, i.e., the number of passengers carried by the ears and the frequence of the service. In the timetables submitted the car miles allowed for were approximately '2OO, or 46 trips between Fitzroy and the Breakwater. The cost of running such a service would be £l7 lis Cd. The report added: ''lt will be gathered from the figures that the ears must carry no less than 15.2 passengers per ear mile if the service i 3 to pay. In my opinion it cannot .be expected to do so. There is, however, another way to consider the service, and this is, to neglect the capital and standing charges, /which will go on whether the service is run or not. By so doing the service would then have to meet only working expenses and perhaps a small amount of the capital charges could be realised. This, in my mind, might possibly be achieved, in time, aim when the system is firmly established. The summer months will, ot course, be best, as weather eond ; - tions play a' very important part with the Sunday travellers, j.nd in winter time if may be well to reduce the service. I know of only one town in New Zealand where a Sunday service is not run, despite the fact that Sunday is generally looked up as a bad day from a financial standpoint-." Cr. Watkins said he thought it would be to the benefit of the people of the town to have the trams running on Sunday, and he moved that a Sunday >orvice should be run.

Cr. Smith, in seconding the motion, said lie thought Council would t><* cincj--ing for tlio. public by giving ;hem trams 011 Sunday. He had no doubt the trams would bo well patronised on Sunday—probably better than on any other day in the week. In reply to Cr. Collis, the engineer said that if one tram was employed to run a hourly service after noon on Sunday, the wages bill would onlv be about £2 10s. Cr. Collis: That is about all (hey yyould earn. The Mayor said that the question of whether trams should bo run on Sunday or not eoukl be decided independent* ly of the question of the Sunday time* table. The motion was then carried unanimously. i Cr. Collis said the running expenses on Sundays were going to amount to about £lO, and he felt sure there would be a loss of £S every Sunday, .which meant £2!50 a year. The Council was bound to run the trams during the week, even though it was realised they would run at a loss, but they were not bound to run the trams at a loss on Sundays. He suggested that on Sundays the trams should commence at noon and make one through trip. From 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. there should be an hourly service, which would be resumed from 8.30 p.m. in 9.30 p.m. It was all very well to say there was going to be a loss, but it was the duty of the Couneil to reduce that loss wherever possible. He moved that thp time-taWe committee should be recommended to draw up a Sunday time-table commencing at noon. Cr. Short seconded the motion, Cr. Watkins moved an amendment that it should be a recommendation to the time-table committee to run the trams morning and afternoon on Simday. Cr. Hayden seconded the amendment. Cr. Monteath favored a morning service, which would provide people in the suburbs with the means of travelling to and from the churches, Cr. Wilson opposed a morning service. He objected to the proposal of stopping the trams during the church services, and afivoeated a continuous service. The Mayor said he could see no harm in giving the morning service a trial. The amendment was carried.

WORK ON TRAM ROUTE. At a meeting of the Works Committee held subsequently, the" borough engineer (Mr. E. 0. Clayton) reported that he estimated that from date it would take 42 working days to finish formation and metalling on the tram route. He estimated that it would take 90 days to complete the tarring and sanding of the whole length of the roadway witli two coats of soltar. This estimate was subject to one day's extension for each day lost through wet weather or public holidays, when no work can be done, or through freshes in the river making it impossible to obtain metal, and is based on the present amount of labor now engaged.