INTERFERING WITH THE TRAMWAYS.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 14093, 12 July 1911, Page 8

INTERFERING WITH THE TRAMWAYS.

Speaking at the close of the second reading debate on the Tramways Bill of last session—one of the most mischievous and undemocratic measures ever passed by the present undemocratic Government—the Minister for Publio Works, in reply to criticisms, said "he was not concerned about over- " crowding (tramcars) co long as the " brake-power was sufficient, and he "did not propose to interfere in any . "way." Tho Minister's protestation ,of non-interference was not regarded seriously by those who recognised the enormous opportunities for interfering placed in his hands by tho Bill. Sco- , tion 3 of the Act enables him to ap- ; point "any qualified person" to inspect ■ a tramway, its rolling-stock, and ; plant, and on the report of that per- | son —who might be a discharged employee of the tramway system he had inspected—the Minister may order all sorts of things to be done. Section 5 gives him extraordinary powers to interfere, by regulations mado under Order-in-Council, in every department of tramway management. Of these powers, despite his assertion that ho " did not propose to interfere in any " way," Mr McKenzie has availed himself to the uttermost. The regulations ht» has just issued are not merely dravstic, they are absolutely nonsensical, and if they are enforced they will throw tho tramway systems of the Dominion into unimaginable chaos. It is difficult to conoeivo how anyone with even average intelligence can think that it would be possible to run a satisfactory tramway sorvico on the lines laid down by Mr McKenzie in these grotesque regulations. Tho basic idea is that no car shall carry more passengers than can obtain seating accommodation. Tho accommodation available on each car as it approaches various stopping places is to be announced by an official, who is to allow on board only as many passengers as can find seats. To carry this out it would be necessary ,to establish the queuo system at each important stopping place, and persons to whom time was of no consequence, and who could 6pend a quarter of, an hour in waiting for a tram, would/thereby secure seats, Avhile the artisan and clerk and shopassistant, going to work or getting ! home for dinner, with no time at all to spare, would be left behind. Tho regulation that all cars with steps more than fourteen inches from the ground, must carry auxiliary steps, which must be brought forward by the conductor J whenever asked for, is as funny as anything in the average pantomime. It is hard to believe that the Minister will enforce these ridiculous regulations upon the Tramway authorities jof the Dominion, thougti we admit that it is equally difficult to imagine why he brought them forward if he does not mean them to be obeyed. If enforced they will havo one of two results they will either make it necessary for the tramway authorities to build an enormous number of extra cars, of which only partial use could be made, and to add very largely to their staff, thereby putting themselves and the ratepayers to very great and wholly unnecessary expense, or if this is not done, they wil] make tram travelling so difficult as to inconvenience very seriously many thousands of persons daily. This is no question of merely annoying the various Tramway Boards and Committees, of usurping their authority over their employees, or of making idiotic regulations which override the original Orders-in-Council under which tho tramways wore constructed and are worked. That is all bad enough, considering that in three of the four cities the tramways are managed by representatives directly elected by the people. But these regulations will strike at the comfort and convenience of every tram-passenger in the Dominion. Most people would sooner submit to a littlo overcrowding than be compelled to wait their turn, perhaps for half an hour, before they could get a seat. But under the pretext of preventing a very mild evil, which is not at all generally resented, the Minister is going to make cheap fares impossible; and he is going to throw every tram service in the country into- wild confusion. The regulations, in short, show once more the folly and the danger of placing power in the hands of a man whose ignorance of the public's requirements is only equalled by bus ill-founded confidence in his own omniscience.