TRAM SHELTERS.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20088, 18 November 1930, Page 10

TRAM SHELTERS.

A DEMAND FOR MOKE, j SQUARE JUDGMENT DISCUSSED. 1 Several members oi the Cumtchurth i'ramway Board declared at yesterday s meeting that tbo removal of the shelter in the centre of Cathedral squ&re must be followed by the construction of others for the convenience of tram paseengers. "Since the last meeting,said the chairman (Mr W. Hayward), "the Ohiof Justice heard an application from the City Council for a postponement of the Order under which the shelter and the conveniences attached have to be removed. The Chief Justice granted the application, but made a stipulation that the shelter must bo removed before the end of June. "ft is presumed that the nest step v.iil be taken, by the City Council calling upon the Board to remove its po.tion of the building, viz., the open porI tion and the inspectors' room. The north end was erected by the City Council itself. . "Tus Press has pointedly inferred that the Tramway lioard was content- j plating some legislative move which would have the effect of frustrating the order of the Court. Such a move has never been discussed, nor has it been mentioned, so far as I know, by any member of the Board. I think it is wise to make this pronouncement. Comfort of Passengers. -Although the Board has not discussed or contemplated, so far as I know, any move in that direction," said Mrs £.. E. McCombs, "I think it should. It should have moved to retain a comfortable waiting place for tram passengers. I can imagine nest June, in the depth of winter, when people are deprived of that shelter. It is wholly in the interests of the Board as a business concern that it should be retained, and it should have made a strenuous effort to retain it.

"After all, the aervice exists for the people. The shelter tvas erected under the guidance oi! an eminent architect, whose idea was to make it as unobtrusive as oossible, and it was mad© 50. Nov/ thousands of people are to be denied the comfort they receive from it. It is wrong at this stage that tho Board should bo forced to undertake all the expense in connexion with the removal oi' the lines. It make a very strenuous effort to retain tho present shelter, because the small shelt3rs which are going to replace it will not be so comfortable. They 'will be small, and open to tho wind. The rain will be kept dff people's heads, but not much more. The Board should have joined with the City Council, and should still join, in retaining the shelter." Mr P. Bvlies said the conveniences would also "hav<! to bo removed. There was no other place in such a position 1 as Christehurch in regard to the lack 1 of shelters. I£ there had been a plebiscite on tho question 90 per cent. 1 o'f the people would have voted against I the removal of ihe shelter. | "1 thank God we have had the shel- j tcr," said Mr Sykes. "We should do j everything we can. There is a higher j power than lave. We should back up ' the City Council, not only in word, but ; in deed, and stand our share of the i cost. ''Another Must Bo Built." Mr "E. H. Andrews said he did uot i knovr whether anything would be gained by discussing the matter, but it mig'fft be considered by the nevr Board. It would be a great incon%enience to tram nassengers to be deprived of the shelter, but another of some liind would j have to be erected. What the had said was perfectly true. He might not have said it in tho right place, but he had been taken seriously to task. The City Council had the Square and parts of the City iu the vicinity, for a site for convenience*, and a property had been obtained. The newspapers had been implying that the result of the Supreme Court case was the causo of this search, but he wanted 1 to give that an emphatic denial. The last two or three Councils had searched for sites, but it was only lately that a property had been obtained. The bulk of the people were strongly opposed to the removal of the shelter, and it would have met the wishes of most of them if it had boen improved, but they had to bow to the inevitable, and it had to be demolished. It was the new Board would have to take into consideration the building of others to replace it. Schemes had been before the Council and the Board, and they would have to get together. Tram pas sengers could not be expected to in the rain and cold. It was said othei towns had no shelters, but there was a laTge and increasing number in Wellington, and they; were . numerous in other towns. They were absolutely necessary, and the' Board would have to g.ct with t.he Council in providing new ones. Mr Ifayward said Mrs McOombs was wrong in saying they had done nothing. The Board had agreed to share the coats of the Supreme Court action up to £IOOO. It had gone a iair distance, and if the present shelter could not remain, it would go further in the provision of others.

There was an increase of five in the number of cases of infectious and other notifiable diseases reported in the Canterbury and West Coast health districts during tho week ended noon yesterday, as compared with the previous week; but no deaths from infectious diseases were reported. Canterbury: Scarlet fever, 8; diphtheria, 1; tuberculosis, 10; pneumonia, 1: food poisoning, 1; hydatids, 1; puerperal sepsis. 1. West Coast: Scarlet fov«r, 2; tuberculosis. J: erysipelas. 1. The CJiristchurch Tramway Board yesterday gave approva 1 to the. affixing of its seal to and signing of its apnlicntion for an alteration to the Order-in-Couneil covering the Jvorth Beach line, necessitated bv the impending use of trolley-buses. Under the present Order-in-Council. tJie General Manager CMr Frank Thompson) explained, the Board was required to run trams to Burwood and along the Esplanade between New Brighton and Nor£h lioach every hour ami the amendment to the Order-in-Council would oblige it to run them only s*t peak hours. Trol lev-buses would enrrv the ordinary traffic. Reference to the Horticultural Week, which is to be observed in Wellington from Tuesday, January 27th, 1931, was made by Mr George Green, Dominion Organiser of the New Zealand Institute of Horticulture, at a meeting of the Canterbury Council of the Institute last evening. During the week the conferi ences of the Isctv Zealand Institute o£ Horticulture, oi the New Zealand Horti- ! cultural Trades Association, and of tho Association of Directors of Parks and Reserves, and of the Hutt Valley and Wellington Horticultural Sociotics, will be held, as well as the National Fiower Shoir. The functions -will be officially opened by his Excellency the GovsrnorOoneral, in his capacity patron of (he Institute.