The Evening StarS FRIDAY, MARCH 31, 1911.

Evening Star, Issue 14529, 31 March 1911, Page 4

The Evening StarS FRIDAY, MARCH 31, 1911.

We have already given our general approval of the new scale of Tramway charges and concessions Fare submitted by the Manager ConcessiotlSa of' the City Tramways to the Tramways Committee, and with one exception, wjiich the information at our command has convinced us is a most necessary one, wo hope that a majority of the Council will see their way to endorse the recommendations as they stand, V hat the now proposals seek to effect is equality of treatment and tho abolition of numerous confusing concessions ; therefore, on this ground, if on no other, the Tramways Committee should have been careful to refrain from interfering in any way witli the now scale, unless it was perfectly clear that a severe handicap would bo imposed on any who now use tho tramway service. No such handicap, however, applies under Mr Alexander’s proposals to the residents in St. Clair and North-cast Valley. Id ask this group of tramway usons to pay l-12th of Id per section more than they are now doing is neither a hardship nor a breach of any understanding. To assort, as the Committee are reported to have done that Mr Alexander’s suggestion is a breach of faith with the large number of people who have been induced to purchase land in these two suburbs and to build there, on the strength of tho concession formerly granted, is absurd. The class of people who are building homes at St. Clair will hardly thank the Committee for their interference, and in view of the gain that all citizens, including these of tho two outlying suburbs, will receive from the proposed alterations wo trust that tho Council will see their way to leave the Tramway Manager's recommendations in this regard severely alone. Where a change mightwell have been made, and one, wo feel assured, that Mr Alexander will himself recognise as meriting reconsideration, is in the matter of school children’s fares. At present the boys and girls who have to come into town to tho High .Schools and technical day school can obtain for 2s 6d a monthly ticket valid over two sections before five o’clock. This sum can be paid without inconvenience by tho majority of (if not all) parents. Tho intention now is to sweep away this concession, and to substitute therefor carriage over .any three sections for Id. This, wo affirm, is a retrograde and prohibitory change. A girl or boy can now go home to lunch at mid day, but how many parents can afford to spend 4d a day for five days a week on their children’s car fares, as they will if the proposal passes in its present form? Nor does this represent tho whole aspect of tho position. Some families have more than one child using tho children’s school tickets, and it seems to us that it is an unjustifiable proceeding to mulct any family in, say, 8d or Is a day in tramway fares alone. We feel confident that this part of an otherwise admirable programme of reform will, on further consideration, bo dropped, and tho present satisfactory arrangement allowed to stand.