TO THE EAST

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 125, 23 November 1923, Page 4

TO THE EAST

,|HE TUNNEL QUESTION

|bungling and humbug

ALLEGED

DEPUTATION TO 01 VIC LEAGUE.

j| special "meeting of the council of iheJiCivic League was held last evening, •Mr^'W. S. Wilson being in the chair, for {the consideration of several civic mattars, , chief among which was the new tunnel to be driven through Mount Victoria, to serve the eastern suburbs, a. deputation representing nil eastern, suburbs associations waiting upon the meeting.

The chief speaker, Mr. A. E. Batt, president of the Hataitai Municipal 'Electors' Association, said that it had bean suggested that his association ha<£; acted in Ja parochial spirit over theg^tunnel question, but that was not so.^For 10 or 11 years the association had; been fighting the! tunnel question, and'by reason of the position of the suburb; had perhaps taken a liver interest than other pajts of the city, but that interest was a city, not a suburban interest. The City Council for some reasoiCJbr another would not come into the open; over the tunnel, nor would it, for thatr matter, over the Hutt road or Raroa^road. ~The. eastern suburbs must ultimately carry, 'a, great population, and must develop largely into an industrial district as well. The City Engineer had! informed a deputation, of which he was a member, that a great volume of vehicular, traffic was expected to pas 3 through the tunnel, yet he had proposed to build a tunnel which made no provision for -vehicular traffic other than what cpuld precede or follow upon tram traffic. At present many thousands were lost annually-: to the Tramways Department by reason of.' the holding up of cars at'^either end of the existing tunnel/ and the position when the second tunnel was built would be worse, for the reason that slow-moving vehicular traffictcwould continually slow :up and hold up^tram traffic. It had been said that the/horse was going, but the horse would never go, in spite of the rapid growth of traffic.

w :rETHE x APPIAN WAY.;'

His association altogether opposed the XI lice street route, which, said Mr. Batt, ha*£ been evolved entirely for the reason thJJ the Actingj-City Engineer has developed in. his. mind an imagined Appian Way, running east and west, in other words, 'to, join Miramar and Karori. A no'Jth and south main highway was to hisr mind sound, but an east and west main road would never be required. Uifqrtunately^ -the city had never had a defijiite plan which each successive coun-cil-vshould be in duty bound to carry oug The late Mr. Morton had suggested a north and_ south main highway, but the;; new. engineer immediately boxed the compass,' and the: same thing might happen" yet again. The east and west highwa,y was wrong, and the main reason for.ithe Ellice street route disappeared. To;^his.. mind the: essential thing was to-.draw* the..traffic from city and wharves and: turn "its "eastern section off to its destination at the nearest available point/and that was via Elizabeth street.

VIA RIXON GROVE

Mr. Batt alleged that the plan as published in "The Post," showing the various^ proposed routes for "the new tunnel, didC not truly represent the position in regard ftK the Elizabeth street-Rixon grove route, since a series of nine right angled as shown on that plan wojjjd not exist on the route. Further, he that it had been impossible to obtain any information whatever from the council as to the estimated cost of the tunnel, nor could any satisfaction be obtained as to the position in regard to the construction of a road roughly a mils in length, which would run down from the eastern mouth of the tunnel to meet the present main road near Wellington road, and perhaps it ■wonld come as news to some present to hear that apparently the cost of the road, £40,000; had been included in the £160,000 of the possible total tunnel cost. . -, The same humbug marked the Hutt road proposals; not a citizen knew what the City Council really meant to do when it'called for tenders, and at the same time "carted out loads of barrels of bitumen and act them up as monuments." _ It was time that the Civic League took a;stand and demanded from the City Council straight treatment not alone in regard to the tunnel but with regard to the carrying out of city works generally in a manner which citizens could understand. Apparently the tunnel question'was again-dormant; there was bound to be a howl over so ridiculous a plan as the Ellice street route, and perhaps the City Council so drew up its plan that there would be a howl so that it might hold the whole thincr up indefinitely. ■ 6 * The. Mayor had recently expressed himself as of the opinion that the tunnel must be widened, but even if that weje done, and the width increased to 40 feet-, it--would simply, mean tha? the bottle-neck"" would: be transferred from theftunnel itself to the Ellice street approach, which would be the present width, 49 feet 6 inches, less 16 feet for footways. ;tWhafc use would be an Appian Way 80 feet, wide acrossfrom Raroa road and 5 66-foot road on', the, eastern tide: of.the tunnel with a crowding bottle-neck between the two? Returning again to the- Rixen grove route, Mr. Batt" referred in detail to tho grades, lengths, approaches, etc., of that and the EUice street route, and suggested that the!-'.". Acting City Engineer had either made the Bison grove route an impossibility by- the plans: which had been published V6r had never considered the plan at~aU, but his association was not going to sit back, but would continue to fight for a. tunnel- of sufficient dimensions in the right place. The members of his association did not speak as laymen, for the plans which had been submitted to the City Council had been drawn ug by engineers of standing, who had gone, thoroughly over every foot of the ground." : Several* *othgt; speakers dealt in a general manner with the question, the opinions expressed being that the Ellice street roiite'h&d;serious drawbacks, arid that the Strongest representations should be made to the City Council that the whole question should be reopened. The Hataitai 'Association, it was remarked, was not |ooking upon the question from a narrow', parochial view, but had the interests 'or the whole of the eastern suburbs before it. ' • ■ ■

Mr. Wilson suggested that if the council still refused to deal fairly with the Hataitai "Association, and to give fair consideration to the plans already prepared as' 'to alternative routes, steps should be taken to raise funds for the obtaining of a formal report upon the question from the best New Zealand •ngineers.

A DEPUTATION FROM THE

LEAGUE,

The 'following: resolution, brought forward by Mr. D. J. M'Gowan, and seconded by Mi. A. C. Blake, was carried unanimously: — .That. ijhM of the Wellington Civic League, having heard; very full reprfiseatations frpni eastern suburb

residents relative to the proposed new tunnel to the eastern suburbs, respectfully but very strongly urges upon the City Council to consider the plan submitted at this meeting, and that as the route proposed up Ellico street - will • apparently result in a bottle-neck being created which would congest traffic, the City Council supply a full report to the citizens on the whole matter, including cost. ""AlsOj that the City Council committee in charge be asked to allow a full hearing on this large city work from a committee to be appointed by this league. HOW MANY DECIDED THE QUESTION?

Speaking in reply, and voicing the thanks of the deputation, Mr. Batt referred to a statement made by Councillor H. D. Bennett that three men had decided the tunnel question, and said that it appeared to him (Mr. Batt) that really two men had decided the whole question—Councillor Forsyth and the Acting City Engineer. Apparently the' whole,council had never fully discussed the question, nor had the Works Committee, and the one point which had been stressed before them was the east and west Appian Way. A suggestion was made that the Acting City Engineer-should,he asked to set out his reasons for advising the construction of that road, to which Mr. D. M'Laren answered that the committee would no doubt take that matter up.