THE Thames Guardian AND MINING RECORD. TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 1872.

Thames Guardian and Mining Record, Volume I, Issue 264, 13 August 1872, Page 2

THE Thames Guardian AND MINING RECORD. TUESDAY , AUGUST 13, 1872.

It will be remembered that some few months ago an application was made to the local Highway Boards here for permissioh to construct a tramway along Pollen-street. Counsel s opinion was taken, and it was held that the Boards had no power to graut the' perihission, and' th at' ratepayer who felt so disposed could: lay an information, get them fined, and compel the rails to be taken up. • > This put a stop to the Pollen-street Tramway for the time being, at all events. Considerable differences of opinion.prevailed at the time as to, whether it would not be better to carry the l?ue by tlie Beach ; but the promoters of the scheme were anxious to secure the; i Pollen-street traffic, and, as they could not obtain permission to follow this route; the matter dropped. It is now likely to come up again shortly, a Bill being now before the House which we understand will give power to the local authorities to permit the construction of these tramways. Wc have hot 6een the Bill, and i . therefore cannot speak as to its details, but we presume care will be taken that no-monopoly is rashly granted to a private company to the detriment of the public .interest, a contingency by no means impossible at tlie present time. If a Municipality were established here, that body ought to have the control. It is a matter worth careful consideration whether Pollen-street is of sufficient width to admit of a tramway without seriously incommoding the ordinary traffic. Our own view of the matter would be that a line from Grahamstown along the beach, or by the base of the hills, to Shortland, would be preferable in very many respects to the more central route, and in neither case , would the distance be more, than a few hundred yards from the main thoroughfare. The continuation of the sea wall and road from the foot of Albert-street to the mouth of the Kauaeranga Creek at rdiortland, over which the present Tararu Tramway could be carried in a straight line, certainly appears to be the best plan to be carried out. It would in the first instance be probably tlie most expensive, but in the end would be the most useful. It is a subject which the inhabitants generally will do well to consider and express their opinions thereon, otherwise if they are lukewarm in the matter, some scheme which may prove very distasteful may be started and carried out solely in the interests of speculators, who will consider themselves alone in the matter. Of the great benefits which would result from these goldfields townships being connected by tramway we have no dotibt whatever, provided the streets along which the line is carried is sufficiently wide to admit of the iron horse travelling without danger to the live one, which can hardly be said for the Tararu Tramway, though so far no accident has occurred. Along tlie beach there is ample room for both rail and road, and we do not believe the expense would be at all out or proportion to the probable receipts from sucli an undertaking. Street tramways have proved successful in America, and latterly in London, although in the latter most of the streets are, as a rule, too narrow, and the tramways have to be jconfined to the widest thoroughfares. The Kauaeranga Highway Board, we perceive, took the matter in hand at the meeting last evening, to the extent of instructing the Chairman to make all possible inquiries upon the subject, and we shall probably have some further light upon the subject on receipt of the next advices from Wellington; We believe the extension of the street tramway system here to be most desirable, but we should be sorry to see the interests of the public sacrificed to that of any private speculators, of which we think there may be some danger. It may be that there is no cause for alarm, but at the same time it is well to point out that there may be an attempt made to smuggle some kind ot a bill through the House wKicli would benefit a few individuals only, or at all events chiefly, whereas we should like to see the tramway made as useful to the greatest number as possible. When we are in possession of a copy of the Bill now before the House, we shall make some further observations on this subject, which is one of no little importance to the community.