THE TUNNEL

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 33, 7 August 1931, Page 10

THE TUNNEL

IMPORTANT DECISION

£16,000 TO FINISH

LOANS BOARD TO BE

ASKED

The City Council last night reached1 an important- decision regarding tho completion of tho Mount Victoria Tunnel: The opinion was that a. flooring suitablo for all vehicular traffic and readily capable of -taking tram tracks later, if necessary, should lie laid at a,cost of £8340. In, order to financo that and other work necessary to open the tunuel to traffic, tho council proposes to iisk • the Local Government Loans Board to authoiiso the raising of 10 per cent, additional on tho original tunnel loan of £101,230,' i.e., £16,123. This will not require a poll of ratepayers. As everyone was aware, said the Mayor, Mr. T. C. A. Hislop, tho council was now ml tho position of having a tunnel practically finished and upon which nearly £200,000 had been spent, but bad no arrangement for -the full completion of the tunnel so that it could be opened to, traffic. The present financial position was that to complete tho whole tunnel and its approaches and to lay tram tracks in the tunnel only, so that the tunnel would be available for vehicular transport and the tracks would be actually laid in the tunnel so that they could be used later, if and when a junction was made between those tracks and the existing tram tracks, would cost £25,478. Tho funds, available were £7303, leaving a balance of £18,175 to be found. THREE ALTERNATIVES. The question was whether the council should put down a flooring with tram tracks or whether the flooring should be laid without tracks, but a flooring .upon which tracks could later be laid. The flooring and tram tracks in the tunnel (but with the tracks not connected with the rest of the service) would cost £11,340. If, instead of laying tracks now, the council decided to lay a flooring which would bo sufficient to carry tracks later tho cost would be £8340, instead of £11,340. There was another alternative and that was to lay a flooring which would be sufficient for all ordinary traffic, but which would not'bo suitable'for tram track construction;, the cost of that work would be £6000. If such a flooring was laid, continued Mr. Hislop, and if the council found later that it wanted to put down tracks the whole of that flooring would have to be taken up and £6000 would be wasted. "It seems to me that the better course would be to lay a flooring, for £8340, which would not have to be disturbed, but wonld merely have to be added to. The. £8340 flooring, he continued, would have-the additional advantage that it would bo a much stronger and better floor than the plain traffic floor at £6000. The Tramway Committee accordingly recommended that the plan providing for a floor upon which^tracks could belaid, iii future .should" bo adopted. '~''•',''' £16,000' REQUIRED.' that, however, was' only a' part of tho job. ,In addition', thp approaches ka.d to be finished, and tnero was certain work yet to be done inside the tunnel, and to provide for all the work necessary between £15,000 and £16,000 would bo required. * ,'>'. Tho Tramway Committee lecommended that application should be made to the Local Governmont Loans Board for authority to raise the 10 per cent, of, the original tramway loan of, 1920, which would bring in approximately. ,£16,000, , which would complete the 'flooring^ Any balance would go straight into the sinking fund. The Order-ia-Council originally applied for, continued Mr. Hislop, embraced both the eastern and ■ western routes, and 'involved a diagonal approach to the- tunnel, which would entail very heavy expenditure for which the council had no provision. 'SOLUTION WELCOMED. Councillor Gaudin secondec tho adop; tion of the report. -Should tracks be laid later in the tunnel the Tramways Committee could find £10,000, and be ccst to the city would only be £6000." Councillor Huggins welcomed a solution, oi the question. The tunnel meant a difference between a mile and a half and three miles and a half to users. Councillor Wallace remarked that in any event a heavy concrete ''floor was necessary to" strengthen the sides of the tunnel. Laying it now would save dislocation, of traffic later to tear up and lay rails. * WHAT THE PUBLIC THOUGHT. Councillor M'Keen said the council was in the position that when the tunnel was started the public was convinced that it was to be-a tram tunuel. He thought it would therefore be better to lay floor and rails combined now. The council appeared to be considering a change of policy. He was satisfied that one day trams would 'run there. The Mayor explained that the question of route had been asked to bo held over by the engineer. At the next meeting of the committee the question of route to' reach tho tunnel would be more thoroughly investigated. The work being discussed now would be useful in the event of trams running through or otherwise, and any such resolution that night would not have to await the Order-in-Council.' He was anxious to get work for the unemployed, which, if a resolution were passed, could be done within a week. If the whole work were made the subject of a resolution, nothing' could be done for perhaps two months. Councillor Appleton thought-tho time had come whea tramway extensions should be stopped, but he welcomed tho clarifying of the position, and supported the Mayor's motion. Councillor Seinplo thought tho proposal in order. Authority for the work it was proposed to do had already boon given by tho ratepayers; and' it'would be a great 'waste toallow'thc tunnel to stand idle. It' was a debatablo question whether trains should ever be put through it, but the proposal, if put through, would mnko it useful. TRAMS ESSENTIAL; ' Couucilloi. Forsyth said that it was originally intended that th.c tuunncl should bo for both vehicular and tramway traffic. He wished to make it clear that it would, bo a thousand pities if this tunnel wero to bo exclusively used by motorists and pedestrians. The extra haulage over the hill was a matter that could not bo lightly passed over. When they had a practically level run catering for largo crowds, particularly in the summer, there was no argument against using tho tunnel for trams. It had been perhaps necessary temporarily to divorce the two issuos he was sure that the majority of the council were convinced that the tunnel should bo'"used-for both' purposes. Otherwise, why have made the tunnel sc wide? Naturally the Tramway Department would pay back the £10,000 if the tunnel were not .used for trams, but then the tramways would have to be refunded tho sum of some £4000 they otherwise expended to make toe tunnel suitable for trams." Councillor J. Burns said that councillors of that dag understood quite fully f

that' the tunnel "was to bo a tramway and traffic tunnel, and subsequent decisions had fully confirmed that fact. He did not think that tho council,should lush the matter through, at all, fpr on ji previous occasion, tho council had run into considerable .complications through hurrying a work ahead to provide employment.' Although' tho* course suggested was pcrhaps'tho best that could be put forward under tho present difficult circumstances he would have preferred to sec a sehemo for the whole woik.. , NOTHING PIECEMEAL. The Mayor said that there would be nothing piocemea] about the work, for all that would be done would be necessary for the finished job. If the flooring was undertaken at once it should be just about ready for the track work to be gone on. with if and when" an Order-in-Council was granted. The committee's recommendations that tho *8000_flopring (suitable to take tracks in future) should be laid, and that application should be made for authority to raise the additional 10 per cent* on the original £161,250 loan was tarried usauu&ousl^