TRAMWAY RATING.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16219, 23 May 1918, Page 9

TRAMWAY RATING.

JIEETING at dalllxgtox. . npetin" of ratepayers of the Daloecial tramway rating area j n t ho North Linwood school 05 u to" discuss tramway matters Sire the report of the committee fnine ninths ago to co-operate I pother special tramway rating areas occupied tl» chair, m'd & eTa , Vearcefof 11 the ChristBoard. t . q i .jr-nan detailed the meetings i 1? Maken place with the Fendaljlich haJ ta P p ;l , ian ui Commitand stated °I t,n.l been decided to go 011 with mn Court appeal ca.so at the » SnP p„d of' Hc thol,ght 8 llttC Ct the could not have been Tramway Hoard elec--1 .fcnt it could not be managed. He toD '„f the opinion tlmt it wculd have *» 5 Vp+ter for the ca.e to have been to tho elections, because memUorsof the Iloard had declarfnvour of the special areas being «J\ into the general area, and they Unannounced their intention of siipthe inovcraont. . •fnAnswer to a question tho chairin mid that the committee proposed ? Canvass the district for donations to'uds the fighting fund. Cnslimorr-had S*dy collected ftbout £300. and he inmrht the Dallington district, could Se about 11 they won their L« a nd all the money was not needed., be refunded pro rata 7) Svkes said he was at the mect- «« nfc the 'invitation of the member for SB ffirt, Mr Pcrcn. He bellied Sh Mr Pearce, that the only honest Sr to deal with tlw .special rating ,Vas was to abolish them. Ho thought ;£I «necial rating areas had never had Sii, »"«< B""" 1 I'? 4 ,? 0 moral right to load tho special districts with the property 111 the central uea already in tho possession of the Board. In his opinion, it was not honest for tho Board to • double bank tbd aroas with thpsc churgGfi. xi© Minted out that Dallington was not the only line in which a deficicncy on the working was shown, and it was the differential treatment of tho various lines which had mado him take the rtand he had. The Board was in a position to deal generously with the ratepayers of the special areas, for at the present time it had a reserve fund of about £100,000. Both ho and Mr Pearce wero in favour of the merging of the special areas into the general urea, and doing it without being compelled to do so by a Supremo Court judgment. Mr H. Pearce, in dealing with the Dallington special district, said tho attitude ho took up was "tho passenger must pay, every time, and no one had a right to conic back on tho ratepayers for tramway fares." Tho man who rodn on the trams should pay for the pinning of them, deferring to tho operating expenses of tho main area and the special districts, he said that to earn £100 in the main area cost £61, and in the special areas £60, so after all there was little difference between the two. He would not go so far as Mr Sykes in saying that the Board had always dono wrong with regard to the special areas, for ho was satisfied that jn many cases the Hoard had done what it considered the best for the whole district. He would say, however, 'f»iat his vote would be for tho amalgamation of tho districts into a. whole, and in regard to Dallington's case, there waa no question of repudiation in the attitude which tho ratepayers had taken up. After answering questions a voto of thanks was passed to Messrs Pearce and Sykes, and the meeting terminated. A special committee, consisting of Messrs Williams, Young, Caygill, Wyatt, and Phillips, was set up to collect funds in connexion with tho Appeal Court case.