HILL STREET ROUTE

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 1, 1 July 1926, Page 10

HILL STREET ROUTE

MAYOR GIVES REASONS

ACTUATING COUNCIL'S DECISION

A REPLY TO "THE POST."

In a statement made to-day in reply to editorial comment appearing in "The Post" on Tuesday night on the question of the Hill street tramways deviation, tho ■ Mayor (Mr. C. B. Norwood) set out the reasons which actuated the. council in reaching a decision on the matter. "Your sub-leader of 29th June, dealing with the Hill street tramway route, while moderate on tho whole, does not justify its statement that the council did not havo before it sufficient massed technical details and that they arrived at thoir conclusion without sufficient regard for tho merit of the bus over the tram," said the Mayor. "I do not intend to repeat anything I have previously stated, and there will not be a splitting of straws on my side. I must correct the statements, which is strongly inferential, if not direct, that Mr. Cable, general manager of the Tramways Department, has been the sole adviser of the council with regard to putting the tram over Hill street. As a matter of fact, the City Engineer himself, from the very first, has not wavered from his opinion that Hill street is the proper route. All the surveys, figures, costs, and plans quoted in Mr. Cable's report, were prepared by the City Engineer's Department, and not by Mr. Cable, and the report would have been signed by both but for the fact that Mr. Paterson was out of town at the time that the report was presented to the Tramways Committee. The City Engineer's own files, which can be made available, will clear this point to your paper's entire satisfaction; BUSES HAVE LIMITATIONS. "Concerning tho trams becoming obsolete, may I say that there is no evidence to justify this assertion? Tho motor-bus has its great and growing field of usefulness in' passenger transport, but those best able to judge believe also that it has its limitations, and while the cost per passenger is a third greater in tho bus than in the tram, the available statistics from various parts of the world • seem to estimate that this difference in cost is general, in favour of the tram. So there is no need for nervousness under this heading. From personal experience, I must say that I do not know a largo town in tho world where the buses carry anything like half the number of people who have 'to be carried daily. Experience shows that when the surfr.ee tram was pushed off the road on account of density of traffic the' underground tram took its place. This seems to be quite overlooked by people who have been talking about buses superseding trams. The lyderground tram is usually run on the dead, and is able to draw many trailers, and is thereforo called a train, but there is nothing in a name. HONOUR-NO- A PLEDGE. "To come back to Hill street: The council was actuated in its decision to put a tram up Hill street for the following reasons:— (1) To honour the pledge that they had given to the western suburban ratepayers to provide a shorter tram route to Karori and Northland. This shorter route was to be confined to Bowen atreet or Hill street. (2) That on tho round trip all Northland and Karori passengers have to be carried one mile and six chains further than need be. This economic waste amounts to £3500 yearly at present, and with the rapid development of these areas this loss will bo greater annually. (3) That the threepenny maximum fare, if it is going to continue, must be protected with every possible economy, and by reason of its existence the Karori and Northland people are carried over this extra length of line absolutely free of cost. (4) That tho length of lino now in ' Tinakori road from Hill street to Park street, approximately 40 chains, has rails iv good order which can be removed, and tho saving of maintenance of this length of track to' the department as well as the money value there may be in the rails represent economies worthy of consideration. This saving has noc been accounted for in the estimates. . (5) That tho known possibility of a slip in Hill street, which would be costly if it occurred, is buttressed and protected for all time by the proposed work. (6) Incidentally, the cost of the work is to be borne by the undivided profits of tho undertaking of the Tramway Department, and will not increase the capital account of the trams. "May I say, in requesting you to give publicity to this statement, that I do so feeling that probably these points have not, largely through my own fault, been sufficiently placed before tho public, and yet they aro facts which, if taken into . account, must give grave concern to anyono who would turn down the Hill street proposal and throw this indefinite and growing expense upon the present tramway system.''