ACCESS TO ROSENEATH

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 66, 18 March 1924, Page 8

ACCESS TO ROSENEATH

TO THK EDITOR.

Sir,—lam gratified to learn from "R.H.S." that a number of his friends in Eoseneath have been amused by my letter of the 11th inst. It was written to amuse, though he does not seem to be aware of it, as he proceeds to make a laboured attempt to demolish my facts, with no very conspicuous success.;, but from what I saw of the Adullamites at theii- meeting I hardly think that a sense of humour is their strong point. Their whole proceedings seemed to me .so childish. The secession of a few malcontents from the parent association because they found themselves in a minority.of the whole, and their pathetic'inability to recognise that the Hawker street route is as dead as mutton. As to the rest of his letter, I wonder why Mr. Morton is always trotted out by the opponents of the lift? I have before me a copy of his report to the City Council, dated 29th January, 1919, in which, after full consideration, he condemns the Hawker street route on the ground of expense, and advocates an inclined lift from Oriental Bay. Surely j "R.H.S." and the other "early settlers" of his party have a record of tin's among their archives, and, if so, why do they persistently ignore it? A s for myself, I belong to no party, and am ready to welcome any scheme >tlie ; council may put forward thai will 'give^Nvithout any further delay, improved access to Eoseneath, which is at present' only accessible -to ' semi-alpine climbers.^r-I. am,, et.q.,l „ , .• ''. .i " "ALEC P. MATHESON. 16th March. -..•-■ . - . 10 THE EDITOR. ' Sir,—Four letter's to the . Press, and a .deputation to the City Council, in I three days by the advocates of "Improved Access to Eoseneath," per the proposed cable tram, is evidence of the persistent agitation by this small band of people who, in the most determined manner, intend to have the ien thousand pounds, which was voted for improved access to the whole district, spent in their microscopic portion of the district. "Upper Heights" charges me with being humorous, and does not deal with points in my arguments. He belittles the petition signed by over four hundred : residents of the district. This petition :has been tested by the officers of the :City Council, and you may be, quite, sure that if -anything wrong had' been detected by these officials, the Mayor, .who is really an advocate of the cable tram, would haive been only too pleased to have informed his friends of the "Roseneath and Oriental Bay Association" of any defect had it been revealed. "Upper Heights" is silent on my main point, that the citizens of Wellington will be saddled with a loss of ap- . proximately sixteen hundred pounds per annum. It will probably be a good deal more than this, as cable trams in New Zealand and other parts of the world have to make their charges double for going up, compared with that of coming down, on account of the fact that people will save money (and are compelled to save money in these times) by walking down the hill instead of taking the tram. The Mayor evidently knows ; tins, as he referred to it when the deputation waited upon him last evening. The situation is certainly humorous, but the humour lie 6in the fact that "Upper Heights" has so effectively bluffed the City Council and others into believing that their little pet scheme is of any benefit to anyone but themselves. A cable tram will have to go up the side of a cliff about one in one and a half. The smooth running of this cable tram would be very much hindered, if not at times actually damaged, by the fierce gales which come across the harbour and spend themselves .against the side of the cliff, probably the windiest spot in Wellington. "Upper Heights No. 4" asks that the works will be commenced straight away after which he presumes agitation will cease. Many residents have solemnly vowed that if this work is gone on with, they will agitate for it bein" taken down again. As engineers have stated that this proposal is a most ludicrous one, the proposal of the new association, that a referendum of the whole district should be taken, is a very fairone, and I further suggest that the two associations meet and endeavour to come to some sort of- arrangement as to what would be of real benefit to the whole I district in the way of improved access. It is recognised throughout the city that_ the scheme the ladies are battling for is only in their own interests, and not for the large majority of mothers and little children, who will not re ceive any benefit whatever from the pro posed cable tram to Rosene.ith.—l am C!L yrPEB HEIGHTS No. 2. 15th March.