CORRESPONDENCE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVII, Issue 117, 19 May 1909, Page 4

CORRESPONDENCE.

- — ■ * CITY TRAMWAYS AND THEIR MANAGEMENT. TO Tint EDITOS. Sir, — The extravagant zoal of Mr. Shirteliffe in defonca of the municipal tramway management/* of which he iv ono of the principals, is to be excused, 'as we can only expect him to make tho very best he can oui of tho case. In tb» first paragraph in Saturday's issue of your paper he says — "The cost of conversion of the horse-cars system to 21£ miles of electric track and equipment in the cifcy cost up to 31st March, 1905, £313,0003 exclusive of the purchase of tht horse-car system." I do not deny that the tramways cost that sum on the 31st March, 1905, as the cost has been rising all too rapidly ever since they were handed over to the City Council by the contractors who laid the 21i miles of tramways ; but I sap again that the first tramway conversion loan raised was £220,000, and that was tho estimated cost of conversion given by the City Council, its Mayor, officers, and engineers. The work of conversion by contract was carried out by English and Scotch contracting firms, and paid for out of that first loan. Jn paragraph 5 ho says that the tramway liabilities of the city ratepayers to date is £433,000, and not nearly £600,000 as I said in my letter to jrou last Thursday. Does Mr. Shirtcliff© include in this liability the sum of £43,000 borrowed from the sinking funds or othaii fun^s for tramway purposes? Has hfc included £25,000 owing for the purchase of tho horse tramway company's property? These two sums would bring his own figures up to £561,000, and if we add the laat loan for Wadestown trams of £40,000 wo have a total city debt for tramways alcne of more than £600,000. Certainly a big jump from £220,000 in less than five years and only five miles of city tramway extension. If Mr. Shirtcliffe's estimate of the population served by the city trams is correct (71,000), then the population of Wellington and its suburbs must be much more than is officially stated. If we add 15,000 for Petone, Hutt, and" Eastbourne, 4000 for Onfclow and Johnsonville, and Karon, Northland, Vogeltown, and Maranui another 5000, you will have a total population of 95,000, ' a very largo proportion of whom have no tram, connection with the city whatever. Paragraph 10— My estimate of £700,000 as tho total debt on the Wellington tramways included Miramar, Seatoun, and Karori loans of over £100,000, which Mr. Shirtcliffe says "are separate concernSj and are undertaken on their own responsibility. 1 ' In conclusion, let mo say that tke want of a rapid and frequent tram service between the city, Petone, and th» Hutt is a very gieat loss to the business people and shopkeepers of Wellington. The distance separating these flourishing suburbs from the city trams is no greater than tho distance between Auckland and Orehunga, but there is a much larger population at the Hutt and Petone than at Onehunga. It is utterly hopeless to expect this extension from thn City Council. — I am, eto., EXTRAVAGANCE. 17th May , /