TRAMWAY MANAGEMENT.

Evening Star, Issue 11663, 23 January 1902, Page 3

TRAMWAY MANAGEMENT.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir.—As a visitor from the Old Country to the beautiful City of Dunedin. may l be allowed to join in the criticisms which, as it seems to mo, are lx'iug very justly I made regarding the present tramway system and its management? The sole purpose of a tramway ear being locomotion, the first thing that one wishes to know when one sees a car is its destination and its route. Is it not in the highest degree absurd thai when one looks for this essential information in its usual place —along the side, below the level of the I roof, as well as in front —he finds ibat it is nor given, but that in place of it he is commanded to smoke someone or other's cigarettes or to drink some particular firm's tea? This is the kind of thing that astonishes a man (especially, in this case, " the man in the street"), whether he be of rereflectrvc turn or not —a breach of the very simplest rule of practical sense. I would put it on a. par with another fact that every householder must hare observed : that Worcester sauce and similar condiments are invariably sold in bottles -without a flange or projecting rim, which would enable one to catch the drop after use, as in medicine bottles, and that consequently these, substances, running down the side of the bottle, must necessarily make ugly blotches on the tablecloth. The civilised world is full of inconveniences -which people endure from year to year, because apparently they do not think them important enough to notice. And yet the sum of provocation. and bad temper whicH them cause must really be very great. Why do riot those responsible for the tramways take a lesson from Glasgow, •whose service is perhaps the best in the ■world? There, too, the Corporation are the owners, and not a single advertisement is permitted on their cars, outside or in. Every car carries, in large, clear, legible type' (gilt on a black ground), along its upper edge, just below the roof, as well a-s in front, the names of its destination and of the principal streets along which it passes. The overhead electric system is used, and each car has as many seats on the roof as within — a, sine qua non, of course, as almost everyone prefers an outside to an inmde seat in fine weather. The maximum fare is Id, and if one gets into the wrong car a transfer costing £d admits him to the next. Of course, these low prices are impossible in Dunedin, but tho other points are not merely possible, but absolutely necessary. Should not the public insist on these simple and self-evident reforms when the new system is introduced? I have said nothing of the aesthetic side of the advertisement question, nor the ethical side. Query: Is a corporation justified per se in eking oat its income by giving prominence to the advertisements of anv pushing private firm?—l am, etc., A Lover of Common Sknse. January 2.3.