A COMPLETE PROGRAMME

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 126, 30 May 1928, Page 8

A COMPLETE PROGRAMME

It is not to be expected that tho recommendations of tho Access Commission will 1)0 entirely satisfactory, to all groups of citizens. Local interest in such questions tends to affect judgment, and it is always difficult, where local interests conflict, to give a decision which \ all will accept without question. There aro several reasons, however, for accepting this report as a whole, and not attempting to secure its amendment in this or that particular. In the first place tne Commission comprised mcii fully qualified to review tho. transport difficulties of the city. ■ City officers, well acquainted with the existing difficulties and with former proposals, supplied tho local experience, and independent experts gave tho fresh vision. Examination of the recommendations discloses,further, that the Commission considered all proposals that were in any way feasible, and dealt with all of them strictly upon their merits, bearing in mind 'factors of <?ost, convenience, engineering difficulties, and futuro transport requirements. It would bo futil6 for a layman, or a body of laymen, to seek to amend thoso recommendations, unless it can be shown (as the Commission itself has stipulated) that' changing 'conditions inako a variation necessary. Perhaps tho outstanding feature of the'report is its rejection of several former proposals which had the approval of the City Council. These include: The Raroa road tramway, the Hill street tramway deviation, and the routes first approved for the second Mount Victoria Tunnel. This docs not mean, however, that tho Council and ite export officers have .been greatly at fault in tho. past. It indicates, rathor, that conditions have changed rapidly in_ the last few years, and what commended itself eight 'years ago is no = longer acceptable. It will possibly surprise many people also that tho Commission makes-ample provision for new tramway routes, instead", of relying upon' arterial roads- and motor-bu3 transport. This is probably explained by the fact that tramway railed transport, though it may involve heavier initial capital outlay, is still essential in handling the heavy "morning and evening traffic. In large cities where this method of transport has been largely abandoned it has beeu replaced by alternative underground ' or overhead rail transport of greater speed and capacity. . • Having obtainod 'tho judgmont of a well-qualified technical Commission, tho City Council mus.t now considor ] what effect shall be given to the recommendations. Obviously a programme involving an expenditure of half to three-quarters of a million cannot be put into operation all at»once. The Commission, so far as we are able to discover, does not attempt to decide the order of urgency as between East and West proposals; but it sets out the order for these proposals separately. On tho east side the work is one work, except for the new street construction provided for in the fourth recommendation. Tho recommendations 1, 2, and 3 are interdependent and must be put into operation practically simultaneously: On tho'west side, however, I the proriosals are separate, the Boweu street road is related to tho Glcnmore and Chaytor street widening works which are: now in course of construction. This is tho part of tho scheme recommended for earliest attention, and as it is the least expensive work tho Council will probably be under no temptation to change tho ordciv In a differont category come the acquisition of tho cablo tramway and its subsequent duplication or tho provision of an alternative route. The choico between duplication and a second route, tho Commission states, should bo dotonnincd by "tho then existing conditions in the city itself." It does not appear clear from the report) however, why tho Council should acquire the existing tramway unless it decides to duplicate it. Possibly it is considered that even two separato systems could bo operated more economically under tho one ownership. Tho work covered by the fourth recommendation is evidently not doomed to bo of great urgency. Its advantage is considered prospective rather than' present. But the recommendation cannot bo disregarded on that account. It must bo considered in planning other city works, and, though construction may not bo commonced for some yoars, tho Council would be wise to mako gradual provision for the acquisition of the property which would bo traversed. Tho first and most urgent task awaiting tho City Council, however,.is/to mako a definite decision regarding tho order of tho works recommended and then to proceed with tho removal of obstacles (some of them of some magnitude) which stand in the way of the scheme.