ELECTRIC TRAMWAYS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 146, 22 June 1899, Page 2

ELECTRIC TRAMWAYS.

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT

THEM,

REPORTS ON THEIR EFFICIENCY,

PROGRESS IN OTHEE PARTS OF THE WORLD.

Ever since negotiations were initiated in connection with the installation of an electric tramway system for Auckland a section oil the Councillors, and very possibly the public also, have adopted a policy of vacillation. This attitude, if its disinterestedness is conceded, is due to a feeling that someone may get the best of any concession granted, and that Auckland may be left with a system originally ineffective, and which in a few years will become obsolete. Many people who have not studied the subject are entirely unaware that electric traction has long- passed what- could under any circumstances be construed

as the experimental stage. -More ; particularly in the United States and on the Continent the increase in mile-, age has been extraordinary. In \ America in IS9O there were 0037 miles Of tramway lines to 2523 of which i electric traction was applied, and 5400 | miles were worked by horses. At the ■ end of IS9G the total mileage had in- j creased to 15,950, no less than 13,009 j miles of which were electrical, while ; horse trams had decreased to 1351. On the Continent, of Europe the fig-

ures were if anything more striking, for in IS9O there were only 21 miles of electric 'tramways, while in 1596 there

\vere.> over 800 miles

Such reforms as the intvodnotion of I electric trams are taken up in Great Britain somewhat slowly, and usually after infinite investigation. Some oi the reports furnish interesting- read- ; ing on the subject, A committee appointed by the Glasgow Municipality, and whose investigations were notconfined to large Continental centres, | but extended to the United States, reported that "the overhead system is the simplest, cheapest to construct; and work, most accessible for mam- j tenance and repair, and on the whole ( the most efficient system of median-, ical traction which has yet been j demonstrated by practical working. : The deputation appointed by the City j Council of Belfast to enquire into' the subject concluded among other I things that "all practical objections ; to the overhead system have been | surmounted, and any exception there-. to from an aesthetical point of view i has been reduced to an almost m» ! finitesimal quantity in the best examples of the overhead system.' The report of the general manager ; and the engineer of the Glasgow Corporation tramways, made in 1890, j after an extended visit to the United : States also contains some further interesting facts. They found that "in no case has the overhead system, when once introduced, ever been abandoned " A committee of experts appointed by the Hull Municipality set forth the advantages of the overhead electric system as compared with other i'orimi of "electric traction as follows: (1) Cheapness and simplicity, the latter enabling any necessary repairs to fee effected with a minimum of trouble, delay and expense; (2) the rapidity with which the lines can be constructed or converted From horse system (as in Rouen, where the conversion is said only to have occupied ten months), and the comparatively small interference with the traffic and surface of the streets as compared with the conduit system. It were possible to cull from such reports almost indefinitely, though their little variation makes such excerpts largely repetition; but the following, from the investigations made by a Liverpool committee in 1597, is worth quoting:—"The deputation," runs their report, "were more and more convinced as their tour of inspection proceeded that, as regards good mechanical construction, elasticity of working, freedom from breakdown, facility of repair, and economy of maintenance, the overhead system is without a rival."

Under the old system of gas pipe looking poles on either side of the street and a net-work of wires crossing and re-crossing the overhead electrical system could not be regarded as other than an eyesore. Now, with ornamental iron posts, preferably in the middle of the road, where the division they make facilitates the regulation oil traffic, and goes a long way towards preventing accidents, the equipment is exceedingly simple, and its objectionable features are reduced to a minimum. As to the danger through, one cause or another the following is extracted from the report of a sub-committee appointed by the Hull Corporation:—"Any danger from the overhead construction is practically nil. Even in the event of a current of the maximum pressure permitted for tramway work, namely, 500 volts, being transmitted to a human being- there is no probability that the result would be serious." Or again, the evidence of the president of the extensive western system of Boston may be taken. He told the Glasgow Commission that "they had comparatively more accidents with the horse cars than with the electric ears. These same gentlemen reported that " no man, as far as we could learn, has been killed by the current from the trolly wires."

Such are a few of the opinions and investigations into the question of electric traction. Fully 95 per cent, of the electric tramways of the world are constructed on the overhead system, and it has been employed almost to the entire exclusion of the ground systems in any installations recently made. Despite the fact that the overhead electric trams in North Sydney and Hobart, which have been in use some years, are not satisfactory, the New South Wales Tramway Commissioners are converting the extensive steam services owned by the New South Wales Government, and within a very few months electric cars on the overhead system will be running the full length of George-street, the crowded main thoroughfare of Sydney. The inevitable conclusion from these facts is that the question is purely one of the efficiency with which the installation is made. Electric traction has been successfully applied ■where the grade is one in eight, and, therefore, the matter of the steepness of Auckland's hills does not need to he taken into consideration. It behoves the Council to know, however, that the contract finally, signed leaves no

loop-hole which might burden the city with an inferior service. It is not a question of what can be done, but of what will be done. Properly constructed electric tramways, upon the overhead, or trolly, system, would be an immense boon to Aucklaud, as they have been to Brisbane; they would increase the value of property, contribute materially to the convenience uivxl comfort of citizens, and relieve the pressure of traffic on Queen-street.