ROSENEATH'S CLAIMS

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 141, 12 December 1923, Page 3

ROSENEATH'S CLAIMS

THE CABLE CAR PROPOSAL

TO 111 IDITOR,

Sir,—-Referring to "R.H.S.'s" letter ,ro to-night's "Evening Poßt," he says that I am endeavouring to answer the criticisms levelled at the proposed cable care, firstly, by ridiculing the size, of Roseneath, and, secondly, by trying to throw doubt upon the bona fides of the oft-quoted petition. In reference to the population of Roseneath, it is perhaps interesting at the present time to review the suburbg of Wellington, regarding their standard of progressive development during the last twenty years or so. At that time, the Wen at Kelburn was a farm; Lyall Bay, a medley of sand dunes, and Hataitai was m its primeval state. _ Roseneath was then very much as it is now—the home of a comparatively •mall number of people, who love the harbour view, and the salt air from the sea; but to the great majority of Wellington citizens it has remained unexplored territory/ Why is this so? The answer us not far to seek—it is because the little community of Roseneath resiaents have not yet lairnt the old adage that 'unity is strength." . We cannot say that the councillors have never offered us anything in the shape of easier accessibility, for they are offering into us at the present time. We can but look inwards for the root of the whole' trouble of the crying need for some mode of transit for our womenfolk, and for °"r older residents, more especially up the hills that surround us. •"

Briefly it is this: One section of residents wants one thing; another section, wants another thing, and a third section appears not to want anything at all; it is satisfied with things as they aie — just so long as the other two sections don't get what will be of great benefit to ,them.

Any bar to any progress iii'any partof any suburb is a dead loss to every member of the community of that sub- 1 urb; but a certain section of the ■■"residents of Roseneath cannot see it that' way. They want a mode of transit that will drop them at their front garden gates; they want the Wellington City Council to concentrate a large gang of men, a great amount of plant,-and material, and, of course, any amount ■ of money—in providing an access way:— financially impossible as far as the popu-' lation it will serve, for their own special' benefit. V '

Anyone who dispassionately reviews the whole history 01 ltoseuta^ s miii / appeals for better access must see that' this, section of. residents have barred the! way to her development. Anyone who dispassionately studies the present position in regard to the proposed cable car can clearly see that they stand to-day striving to bar the way to progress. We were taught in the years of our youth that "half a loaf was better than' no bread at all," but as some'people grow older their appetites evidently increase,and they want a whole'loaf and a pound of butter thrown in. But if 1 the whole loaf and the pound of butter are beyond one's finances, surely the half loaf is better than nothing at all. I think it may be said, Sir, that the proposed cable car represents the half loaf; its cost first and last is within the amount allocated to our district bythe City Council; it trespasses upon n» man's private home in its building, and it serves more Roseneath people ' than any other access way would serve that can be built for a like amount of money. For 1 £10,000 there is not to-day another possible engineering job of any description whatsoever that can do these three things. '

„ And why should we not be content for the present with the half loaf? There are scores of houses in the Karepa and Mitchell street districts of Brooklyn that are served by a tramway only as far as the top of Ohiro road. Is this tramway of no use whatsoever to them? Do they all walk all the way home from work, ignoring the lift up two-thirds of the hill? Certain parts of Wadestown and Highland Park are in exactly the same category.

Referring to the bona fides of the petition, you cannot have one clear cut issue against a medley of issues to honestly petition upon. People would petition for 'the total abolition of the tramway system if you promised them a fast motor-car service, or perhaps an aeroplane service at the same charges. The opposition have shifted the scene of their issue so often; firstly, I believe Hawker street; secondly, Grass street, arid, latterly and thirdly, a tramway system from Hataitai; that you get the advocates of these system and other systemsof transit less openly talked about, to sign with the greatest celerity.

"R.H.S." quotes the Mayor's figures of the probable loss on the cable car. This proposed cable car will be a third section from the city, and I thinli I am. right in saying that every third section on the tramway system of Wellington today shows a loss as great, and in some cases> greater. Disraeli once said "Sloth, ignorance, and stupidity are the iron bars pushing progress back into the years." and I think, Sir, it is fundamentally stupid for any body of men to strive to stop a proe^'essive work for a problematical something, that may come when mnst of the people it will benefit are beyond the need of it.—l am.etc., QUO .VADIS. 10th December.

TO IBS EDITOR. Sir, —As the question: of an inclined lift to Roseneatk is leading to consider-, able correspondence, may I suggest that in a municipal question, such as this is, all' published correspondence should be ov.er the writer's own name, and not over a nom-de-plume.' Unless one knows who "Paterfamilias," "Quo Vadis," "Facilis Decensus," and particularly "Vox et Praeteria" really are, it is impossible to gauge the value of their views, or their motives in publishing them.

At the only meeting in Roseneath that I attended the opposition to the inclined lift seemed to be fomented chiefly by residents in Hataitai, outside Roseneath altogether, who wanted the available money spent in providing a tramway in. that district. They were supported by a few Roseneath residents, who practically admitted that, as no feasible tram route would benefit them, they were on principle opposed to a tram for anyone else. ' ■ • -.

It appeared that a tram up Grass street would cost double the money required for the lift, and would deposit passengers within two hundred yards of the proposed lif t-head^ presenting, therefore, no proportionate advantage. The extension by the Hawker street route -would require impossible grades, would be very costly, and would run for the greater part through the Town Belt, to its detriment, and without, opening up any fresh building areas, while the lift would certainly facilitate settlement on a considerable scale, and later on would link up with Hataitai tunnel by a tram line down Graf ton road, forming part of an essential circular _ route, and a tourist attraction for visitors to Wellington. Convinced by these-facta, the meeting, a very large one, passed a resolution in favour of the lift, against which a minority are now anonymously endeavouring to prejudice public opinion.—I am, etc.« ALSO, i. MATHESON,