CATHEDRAL SQUARE

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 13986, 8 March 1911, Page 7

CATHEDRAL SQUARE

THE- TRAMWAY SHELTER

MATTER

Occasion was taken yesterday by Mr H. Pearce, chairman "of the Tramway Board, to reply to the strictures of "The Press" in regard to the extension of the tramway shelter in Cathedral square for the purpose of accommodating a public telephone cabinet, which the Telegraph Department wishes to instal there.

Mr Pearce explained the position of affairs, from the Board's standpoint, to a "Press" reporter.

'•The Telegraph Department, it was j understood, at the request of the City Council, asked permission to erect a public telephone cabinet inside the open, portion of the shelter. The Board suggested that it would be better if it were placed in.the lavatory end of tho building, with, of a j separate entrance, to the Square. Tho Council stated this would not be convenient to them, and the Board therefore reluctantly agreed to the cabinet being placed inside the shelter, pro- j viding that it did not exceed a cor- . f tain size. The Telegraph Depart- j ment now soy that the siw. i limited by the Board is inadequate, and the Board therefore has offered to construct an addition of five or six feet to the south end, and provide in it the room desired by the Telegraph Department and the Council. It is clear that a oublic telephone in such a position would -be an undoubted public con- ( venience. '

"With reaard to the use of the shelter made by the Board for offices, etc., it should he noted that the Board has already a vacant section at the rear of Dalgety's buildings, on which it could erect a ticket oflico if necessary, but this would prove most inconvenient to the majority of the Board's oatrons, and .it is their convenience which the Board thinks should receive every consideration. The jibe, therefore, that the Board's object in using the shelter for a small ticket office in order to escape the payment of heavy rent, is as silly as it is untrue.

"The Press," went on Mr Pearce, "has had so much to say with regard to the disfigurement of the Square by such utilitarian objects as public conveniences and tramway shelters, that it ought to complete the matter, by taking through its columns a plebiscite of its readers, and it is certain that thenuWie opinion thereby expressed Would be an eye-opener to it.

"With regard to the charge so frequency made, that the Board is making the So wire the terminal point of its services, it should be noted that.of the thirteen tramway routes being served at present, tbe cam of nine of them nas<- right through the Square; and notwithstanding, also, that the Square is not made tho terminus of a faro section (overlapping sections being arranged), the greatest number of passengers board these through cars in the Square, which shows that it is the most convenient **!acp for them to wait. Trams ought-to bo taken along routes which are most frequented. To carry out the policy enunciated by 'ThePress,' th<» cars ought, wlion they eoino within n few blocks of the sacred precincts of tbe .Square, make a detour by tho back streets, "eai-ing; the principal centre of the town untouched by tramway conveniences. To bo ln.n.c-1. 'The Press' ought to advocate this.''