THE ELECTRIC TRAMWAYS. PROGRESS OF THE WORK OF INSTALLATION.

Evening Post, Volume LXVII, Issue 131, 3 June 1904, Page 6

THE ELECTRIC TRAMWAYS. PROGRESS OF THE WORK OF INSTALLATION.

The installation of the new tramway system has reached tho testing Hlage, which meu-118 that the first hall of the contract is at last neanng completion. Tho contractors' engineer is completing ai rangements for making a private test of the running of tho cars and tho overhead wires. At the power station, also, tho finishing touches are being put upon the maohineiy, which is to provide the power to iun the 1 riuncars. The oltieiuls of Iho Public Works Department aro making inspections of various parts of the work, but so iui- no cult incites have been received by the Corporation from the Depart men t. Tho o/hciuls of (ht JJi-p.utiucnl must give the word "Itiglu" belorc the Corporation can s.a.y "Uo" to the new service. There • are «ome telephone and tolegiaph wires to be cleared irom under the trollej -wires in Newtown yet,, and their removal is going oi\ apace. It will also take fcumo time, say, a day or two, to remove the tar and concrete with which tho rails have been lined along the track. Advantage wa*. taken of the line weathed and tho holulay to-day by Mr. Kerwm to push ou tho construction of tlio track in front ot the General Poat Office aud past the main g.ttes of the Queen's Wharf. A connection was. nuido with the track laid home timo ago a.ong Jervois-quay. A largo number of spectators watched the proceedings throughout the day with great interest. A stoppage of the operations past the fhflter-sheds was threatened yesterday afternoon. Mr. It. W. Holmes, of tho Public Works Department, was making iin inspection of the work, and he objected to the slight deviation of the track from the lines drawn in the original plans and contained in the Order-in-Coun-eil under which the system is being constructed. The deviation was tho result of objections made by carriers and the Harbour Board to the original plans. The Corporation,* by tho deviation, pacified both objecting partiea, and also avoided tho necessity of removing the .■iheltershods. If the Department insisted upon tho original plan boing adhered to, the shelter-sheds Mould have to be lemowd. Tho City's Electrical Engineer, on being informed by Mr. Holmes th.it thcie>wou'.d bo an objection to the deviation, said "vcrv well, then we must btop tjieso works," or words to that efl'ect. But tho contractor's representative would not stop without official written instructions, and Mr. Holmes did not issue such. The track is now practically completed. During the excavation operations in front of Queen*) Wharf this morning, a portion of tho old wharf wa* uncovered. Tho Willis-street gang of workers has been making rapid progrebs during the week, the excavators having opened the roadway as far as St. Peter's Church, and the rails are not far behind. In Moles worth-street tho track still awaits the metal to reform *ho road, which w«s in a very bad state during tho period of Hie recent wet weather.