THE TRAMS.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 April 1916, Page 5

THE TRAMS.

THE BREAKWATER SECTION TO BE READY BY EASTER. The Tramways Committee of the Bon ough Council met last night. Present:' The Mayor (chairman), and Crs. J. Hayderi, J. S. S. Medley, F. E. Wilson, A. H, Johnstone, W. F. Short, F. J. Hill, S. J. ' Smith, E. Griffiths, J. T. Manniit, and A. E. Watkins. The consulting engineer (Mr. F. Blaclf)l wfote that the contractors expected to' complete the overhead work on the Breakwater section on the 17th (yesterday), and in view of the Council's deilre to have this 'part of the system opened fdi traffic at the earliest possible moment he notified the Public Work# Department that this section, also oar No, 6, would be ready for inspection on th» 18th (to-day). He added: "The inspector will not have so muoh to do m on ' the occasion of his first visit, and t anticipate that the permission oi the Department will be given in time to enable the Council to secure the full value of the Easter traffic." The Mayor reported that Mr. Butty (the tramways engineer) had arranged with Mr. H. H. Sharp (the Resident Engineer to the Public Works Department)) to have the inspection carried out to* morrow instead of to-day. 1 TRAMS AND CHURCHES.. NO CARS DURING SERVICE. At the last meeting of the Borough Council, Mr. Bartley recommended that the tram service on Sundays should tot ' be stopped during church hour* on Sin. day mornings and -evenings, for to do so would entail a loss of some £72 a year. Last night n. deputation representing the religious bodies 1n New Ply. mouth waited on the Committee and asked that this proposal he not'anted to. ■ ■ ' The Rev. A. B, Chappell eaid the man jc-rity jf the people were ohurch-gotn, and he considered'that they should bt safeguarded in their worship on the Sabbath. All that the deputation tilted was that tlife trams would stop tanning from 11 a.m, to 12.15 .p.m., And from 7 p.m. to 8.15 p.m., for if this were done there would not be any inte&entao with Sabbath worship, and It' would, cause the minimum of. incotivenienoe to those who did not go to churchy litre were three or four churches which weM I on the tram route, and public worship | would be almost an impossibility If the trams were running past them. The engineer had pointed out that if the tr*ma> were stopped there would be 101 l in revenue, hut Mr. Chappell t urged that the Council was- foot merely * ■ Finance Committee;, they had to return- ■ J>er that it was there, to.fiontrol what was highest and in. The full service on Sundays was now in operation in Auckland, ' and lie k&ew ; from experience that the trams had a distracting effect on congregations of . churches.

Messrs. Stanley Shaw and N. JC. MacDlarmid supported these remarks. The deputation then withdrew. The Mayor moved that no aotipn be taken in regard to the engineer'* recommendation. Cr. Johnstone seconded. Cr. Watkins moved an amendment that a continuous service should b6 run on Sundays,

There was no seconder to the amwdi ment, and the motion was carried.