OVERCROWDED TRAM CARS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 163, 10 July 1907, Page 5

OVERCROWDED TRAM CARS.

THE MEN'S DECISION. REFUSE TO EXCEED THE LICENSED NUMBER . At the ordinary quarterly meeting of the Auckland Tramway Union held yesterday morning, a recommendation of the''committee with regard to overcrowd-, ing on the ear 3 was considered, and the following resolution was adopted:— "That, seeing that the system of overcrowding the ears, as permitted by tbe Company is:—

(a) Contrary to the regulations and by-laws of the Company, as approved of by the City Council, and

(b) Is the main cause of shortages in cash and tickets to the conductors, which shortages have to be paid by" tbe men out of their already scanty earnings, and

(c) That the Company ha's previously warned conductors that anyone fined a second time for a breach of the by-laws will have to pay his own fine, and

(d) That anyone convicted a second time for such breach of the by-laws is liable to have bis license cancelled by the City Council, and

(c) That such overcrowding greatly increases the work to be done by each motorman and conductor, without increasing their pay, and

(f) That tbe overcrowding of the platforms and passages of the cars is a serious menace to the safety of the travelling pnbbc, by reason of the utter impossibility of the conductor having easy access to the rear brakes in cases of emergency, the members of the Auckland Electric Tramways Union hereby decide that they will, in the interests of all concerned, refuse to carry more passengers on each car than that car is licensed to carry. 3 That copies of the foregoing resolution be forwarded to the AJE.T. Coy., Ltd., the City Council, the Police and the Press."

It was decided to send copies of the resolution to the Company, the City Council, and the Police.

At tHe evening meeting, at which, the men on morning shift were enabled to be present, it vc#,s unanimously decided to .confirm the action of the previous meeting in passing the resolution. The two meetings were attended by 110 motormen and conductors.

A letter was received from Mr J. J. Walklate, general manager of the Company, in which he stated that the Company had decided in future to pay all regular motormen and conductors for the ten minutes that tbey were required by the Company to be at the depot before their car was due out.

This was the result of representations made to him by the management committee of the union, and is in addition to the ten minutes travelling time awarded by the Court. He also stated that the Company had decided to carry out the recommendations of the new award, and supply regular motormen and conductors with oilskins, or > overcoats, and that aD spare men, after three months' service, would be provided with uniform clothing similar to that of tbe regular men.