THE ELECTRIC TRAMS AND THAT £1000.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXII, Issue 146, 21 June 1901, Page 2

THE ELECTRIC TRAMS AND THAT £1000.

(To tlie Editor.)

Sir, —Having read much, in the daily papers, and heard a great deal moie respecting the above important public matter, I took the trouble to read through the Deed of Delegation (fov which I have pleasure in acknowledging the courtesy of our esteemed Town Clerk). Being somewhat experienced as an ergineer in the matter of specifications, I Tcok the liberty cf making the .^oilowing brief extracts on which, with ycur kind permission, 1 shall comment en passant. On page 2 we read, "The undertaking to be completed and in public use within two years from the first day of June, 1900." From an engineer's point of view, I have always, considering the distance between here and London, looked on the time allowance as absurdly short. Then follows on the same page, "And* as to the extension of the tramway system outside the city of Auckland mentioned in the second schedule hereto, within three years from the date of the first of the deeds of delegation by the local bodies to the piomoters subsequent to the making of the relative Orders-" in-Council. The promoters to obtain vilr.out unnecessary delay." This ha.; been done, and with an enormous amount of labour and negotiation oy the promoters' local representative,, and neither can be justly held responsible for local intriguing wire pulling, circumlocution, and, in the case of Remuera, of unsupported objections raised to the issue of the Order-in-Council. On page 4 we find, "And within eighteen calendar months from the Ist day of June, 1900, erect the power house thereon, and have the same ready for the installation of the plant." Evidently from the above the power house has only to be

"ready" for the installation of the plant in the specified eighteen months, and taken in connection with the first quotation, given above from page 2 of the deed, six months more are allowed for the installation, of the plant, viz., boilers, engines, and dynamos, etc, etc, for that portion of the undertaking has o"nly to be ready within two years, or by the first of June, 1902. Now what good purpose could be served by putting down the rails, and allowing them to remain idle, and subject to wear of ordinary traffic, exposed to oxidisation, etc., etc., for 12 months? 'Tis only taking so much more out of them! Page 8: "Provided always that the promoters shall not in any case be liable in any way for any delay which may be caused by reason or on account of any delay or omission on the part of any inspector appointed by the Governor, or by the body corporate, to inspect the said tramway, nor shall the promoters be liable for any delay yririch may be caused by reason or on account of any strike or combination of workmen, or any lockout of workmen, or by riot, or by civil

commotion, or by toe outbreak of hostilities of war, the act of God, inevitable accident, or by any circumstances whatever beyond the control of the promoters (exclusive of the want of sufficient funds), or any similar cause, and no such delay as aforesaid shall be deem-, ed a default on the part of the promoters; and in the event of any delay caused as the aforesaid, the promoters' time limits shall be correspondingly and proportionately extended." Xow, sir, in the face of the clause, "or any circumstances whatever," and which I notice in his published opinion our City Solicitor has not quoted, although it must have been " immediately under his eye, when he got as far as that obscure sentence, "inevitable accident," why he did not quote it, is possibly best known to himself I neither know nor wish to find out, but had he done so, I feel sure our City Fathers, as business men, of reasonable common sense, would have seen that they were taking up an untenable position, in refusing a reasonable extension of time to the Tram Company. And. apart from the many sound reasons published in the application of th" company's local representative, surely the outbreak of -'hostilities of war," which absorbed all the avaLable bottoms for transport of troops and munitions to the various porfe of South Africa; the combination or ironfounders to raise the price 01 rails and other tramway materia., which latter to the promoters is exactly a combination of their workmen, and may with equal propriety be called a strike, for the manufacturers of tramway material are the workmen for the promoters for the time being. Therefore, I would submit that, apart from the many sound reasons, "or circumstances," detailed in the letter of the Tramway Company's local attorney, where he applies for an extension of time, the two I have just quoted should be amply sufficient to justify the Council in granting a reasonable time allowance. Now, suppose for the sake of-argument, that those very disinterested (?) gentlemen who do not want to see the advent of electricity succeeded in cancelling the concession to the promoters, what would happen? Why, the Tram Company would simply go on running their horse trams for the next three years within the city, and without for the next 17 or IS years connecting the latter with, their own rbuses, of which, I believe, they have plenty. The City Council would have to purchase the present obsolete plant, at a fair valuation, and start negotiatons de novo with suburban local authorities. The it would be another case of "pull devil, pull baker," one trying to get the advantage of the other; and I feel fairly confident that the city would not have the soft tiling on that it has at present. And you might see the electric trams in Auckland some time between 20 and 30 years hence.—l am, etc, THOS. B. DINEEN, Electrical Engineer. Auckland, June 6, 1901 #