TRAMWAY EXTENSIONS.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 August 1922, Page 5

TRAMWAY EXTENSIONS.

VOGELTOWN ROUTE ADOPTEI SURVEY TO BE MADE. DEPUTATION TO COUNCIL. At last night’s meeting of the New Plymouth Borough Council a large deputation of ladies and gentlemen from Vogettown waited on the council 1 with reference to the non-inclusion of Vogeltown in the proposed poll for tramway extensions to Westown. The deputation asked that Vogeltown be included in the poll, it being pointed out that the residents were quite agreeable to the Westown extension being carried out first. Mr. W. G. Browne was the first speaker, and he read the resolution which had been passed at a meeting of residents appointing a deputation to the council on the matter. He pointed out that the meeting was a large one and thoroughly representative of the whole of the district. In passing tha resolution they were very emphatic thafc they were not in any way antagonistic tn the extension to Westown. The decided opinion, at the meeting was that the two extensions should be embodied in the jona loan. They looked upon it as a businesa proposition. The law allowed a poll to ba taken for a loan, and only a portion need be expended, the balance remaining to ba utilised in the future. It could remain for five years, and they themselves urged that the Westown extensions should first ba undertaken and the balance left for tha future to be spent at the discretion of the council. They were prepared to wait until the council in their discretion said that tha expenditure should be undertaken.

PROGRESS OF SUBURB. The residents of Vogeltown were decidedly unanimous that they should be included in the proposal when it was submitted to the ratepayers. When the last poll was taken they were included in it, only* on that occasion it was for trackless trams, while now it was for tracks and wires. Since the last deputation had waited on the council there bad been considerable building in Vogeltown, and it was beemning closely settled, so much so that, considering the line of route which had been mentioned in the Press, they were quite satisfied it would immediately be rmrenueproducing. Another point of view was that the old area was becoming congested, and it seemed to him that it was really an up-to-date proposition to get the suburban areas more freely occupied than at present. They all knew that the laying of the trams to Moturoa and Fitzroy had brought about a large amount of blinding in these suburbs, and the council would realise that the time had arrived when further extensions should be taken in hand.

The question of the route for the tramway to Vogeltown they left in the hands of the council and its officers, but they would like to know if it would take long to prepare the estimates for the extensions to Vogeltown. The council already had the estimates for different portions, and they felt that their request would not in any way delay the taking of the Westown poll, as only a small portion required a new estimate, i.e., for the crossing over Gilbert Street and down into Carrington Road. The council was in possession of plenty of rolling stock, and these extensions were more a matter of costs of rails and overhead wires. Finally, he would say that instead of the council calling for alternative tenders it would probably be cheaper to call tenders for the two extensions. INCREASED POPULATION. Mr. C. Carter said that the very large and influential deputation from Vogeltown whidh had waited on the council in 1920 had asked that when any vote on the extension of tramways was taken that Vogeltown should be included at the same time as any other suburb. They stated at that time that the population which would be served by the trams would be 1012 in the Vogeltown area. They also had 850 pupils attending the Technical and Central • Schools and 150 people attending offices in the borough, a total of 1950 to patronise the trams. Since then Vogeltown had not been standing still. The town and suburbs were making very great progress, and in the last two years 60 dwellings had been erected in Vogeltown, and if they took each, dwelling as representing four people, the increase in the population of the district would be 240. or 22J per cent. Mr. Carter went on to speak of the ’bus service, stating that it was not as good as it migb|t be, and that the prospect of the extension of the tramway would induce further building in the suburb. He also drew attention to the revenue which would be obtained from the Pukekura Park traffic. He concluded by stating that if the Vogeltown people were not included in the present poR and subsequently had to go before the ratepayers to obtain their tramway requirements when other districts had been satisfied, they would have difficulty in convincing the ratepayets that the time was ripe for Vogeltown to have trams. PUKEKURA PARK REVENUE. Mr. C. E. Bellringer urged that they were not in any way working against the Westown claims, which came first. They were more desirous of helping them thaa hindering them. As had already been intimated, the council could raise the money when it required it. Mr. Carter had said that there were over 30.960 visitors to Pukekura Park during the recent football matches, who would have produced revenue for the first section of the tram. There were over 2000 visitors every week, and in a year 60,000, which would soon be increased tremendoudy. They wanted to be included in the Westown proposals. They were furthering their own interests, but in so doing they were furthering the interests of the borough aa a whole. The Mayor, Mr. F. E. Wilson, thanked the deputation for their which would be given every consideration. The deputation then withdrew. Later on in the evening the council adopted the route proposed by the tramways engineer and gave instructions for the preparation of estimates, while on the suggestion ©f Cr. V. Griffiths it was decided that the survey be put in hand immediately. The matter raised by the deputation wiM be considered at next Monday’s meeting when the notice of motion authorising a poll for the Westown extensions will be under consideration.