TRAMS TO WESTOWN.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 September 1922, Page 4

TRAMS TO WESTOWN.

THE WORK INVOLVED. THE PROCEDURE EXPLAINED. Although the ratepayers have given authority to raise a loan of £19,000 for the purpose of constructing the tramway extensions to Westown, some little time must necessarily elapse before the actual constructional work can be put in hand; in fact, as far as time is concerned, the constructional work will occupy only a fraction of the time between now and the date when the public will be using the trams. Practically all of the preliminary work is confined to the office, the first thing to do being the publication of the result of the poll in the Gazette. Following this comes the striking of a special rate as security for the loan, and then the raising of the actual money. Concurrently with these operations, plans and specifications, the latter describing in detail, accurately and concisely, the work to be done, have to be prepared and forwarded to the Minister of Public Works for approval. The electrical engineer, Mr. R. H. Bartley, has the plans ready and is engaged on the specifications, but other work in connection with the estimates for reticulating the outlying districts for the purpose of distributing the electric power which will shortly become available, has been, ordered priority by the Borough Council, and it will be ai few weeks before the plans can be forwarded. A great deal, then, depends on the alacrity with which the Public Works Department deals with the plans and specifications, and it may be anything from three to. six months before they are finally approved and an Order-in-Council obtained authorising the work to be carried out. Following the above operations comes the procuring of the materials required, such as rails, wires, points, etc., and the speed with which these will be obtained will depend on the decision of the Borough Council as to the means to be adopted to procure them. Costs will necessarily affect their decision, but should it be decided to import the rai’s and points, more time will necessarily elapse. It has also to be remembered that points are not stock articles; each set must be made for the particular job, and here again time will be a factor. It has been estimated that once a start can be made on the ground the work wil be completed within three months. How long it will be before this can be made, however, depends on the factors mentioned above.