Evening Post. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1905.

Evening Post, Volume LXX, Issue 147, 19 December 1905, Page 6

Evening Post. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1905.

A TRAMWAY FOR MIRAMAR.

The youthful Borough of Miramar is nofc allowing the grass to grow under its feet^ and to-morrow it invites its ratepayers to pronounce upon a problem which has hardly yet disturbed the slumbers of i many a local body of maturer years and more affluent revenues. The proposal of the Miramar Borough Council is "to raise a special loan of £23,000 fo* the undertaking o f the construction *6f*ekctnd( lrtoc,ways connecting Seatoun and Mintttjttr ■JJbfth with the Kilbirnie tfjitnintis tj» iVellington City tramways," and tO*no)4pjv's poll will approve or reject the scheinfc. It is difficult for an outsider, and perhaps none too easy for one whose ownership of property in the borough provides him with a special stimulus to knowledge, to decide upon the merits of the various pros and cons, that hive been, so stte,nuously urged and co hotty contested wiring the last few weeks. The pyobfew ia far 100 many speculative elements to admit of that precise' detjermination which will carry conviction"* to\tho timid or the sceptical 5 but tie Special article in which on Friday la si we focussed the views of the leading disputants served, at any rate, the purpose of setting out the elements of the problem, and a summary of the argument. The actual cost of construction, according to the figures supplied us by Mr. Bennett, the Town Clerk of Miramar, is estimated at £37,000, made up as follows :— Track, 3| miles, ab about £6000 per mile, £22,000 ; four cars, £4000 ; special power cable, £2000 ; Seatoun tunnel and roads, £9COO, Against this total of £37,000, t;he land syndicates have guaranteed half the amount of the first and last of these items, or £15,000, which leaves a balance of £21,500. As the •second and third items, the cars and the special power cable, will not be needed owing to an arrangement whereby the Wellington City Council will operate the system at a car-mileage rate, the actual amount required is reduced, according to the official estimate, to £17,000, \ which, even after allowing for the payment of the first year's interest out of loan, is well on the safe side vof the amount asked for. \ A more serious item, however, and one much harder to calculate, is the running cost. By a process which we need not recapitulate, and cannot attempt to check, it is estimated by the Borough Council that the total deficiency for the first three y«ais will be £4997 ; but "Mr. Crawford has given land worth £3000, and this is to be usfed to meet this deficit, leaving a. .final deficit of aboiit £2000. The land syndicates will guarantee to make good this loss." From flic fourth year ouwards, according to the estimate, the tramway will be self-supporting. The fears of many of the permanent residents who do not share the sanguine views o9 the syndicates or the Borough Council, were clearly stated in the article referred to by Mr, A. E. Mabin, who assesses the loss for the firat three yeai's at £6665, leaving, after allowing for the value of Mr. Crawford's land and the syndicate's guarantee, a deficiency of £1665 to be borne by the ratepayers, who are already taxed up to the legal maximum. The working expenses, inclusive of interest, Mr. Mabin puts at £4164 a year, about half of which he estimates to be the utmost that the cars could earn ; and his conclusion is that' "the scheme simply means bankruptcy to the borough." We should not be surprised to find this calculation tQ bo nearer tho mark than the official figures so far a« the initial net cost of working is concerned ; but it certainly seems to us unduly pessimistic in its forecast of the more distant future. As the Mayor has pointed out, the rapid development of the Ferry Company's business, though it only serves the water flront, has far exceeded expectations ; and he anticipates a similar growth of traffic from the trams, which will tap an nrea of 1200 acres. His conclusion is that "in three years, instead of carrying 120 •passengers, the trams will bo carrying 1300 passengers a day"— which is about double the number allowed for in Mr. Mabin'a estimate. Another point overlooked by the lattor is that the enormous addition 'to the rateable value of the lands immediately served by the tramway will go a long way towards' relieving the burdens of the residents on the sea frontage, who appear to bo estimating their future- liability on the basis of present proportions. As we have said, there are bo many hypothetical elements in the problem that a dogmatic forecast is out of the question, but if the future of Miramar is as assured as all . who ate in,tersstfld in it appear to bgjjgvg,,

there should be little riskjn the enter- j prise, and the borough will be unwise to abdicate in favour of a syndicate. The impetus to settlement which the construction of a tramway will give is hard to exaggerate, and with it should come the added revenue for drainage-, water supply , and lighting, the lack of whioh at present is being gravely urged by s.omo influential ratepayers as a ground for opposing the undertaking of the work by the municipality. We think the ratepayers should endorse the project.