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The Evening Star SATURDAY, JULY 29, 1911.

The delegates from Dunedin and Christchurch •who visited The Tramways Wellington in connecConfereilCß. tion with the proposed tramway regulations are to bo complimented upon the sagacity and reasonableness which they displayed. Firmly refusing to lend themselves to the unscrupulous machinations of Wellington Oppositionists, it is entirely due to their practical wisdom that the conference and the negotiations with the Public Works Department were not entirely abortive. Three weeks ago, when the agitation started, wo urgently deprecated the introduction of political feeling, and also suggested that there was no occasion for the rather feverish energy with which the matter was being discussed. But there is no holding the anti -M i nisteriali st newspapers when a General Election is in sight and their triennial obsession of delusive expectancy is upon them, and they have not been able to refrain from using the tramway proposals (which were merely tentative) ns a stick with which to assail their political opponents. The Minister of Public Works has an unnecessarily brusque manner when he is annoyed ; hut he has been abused at Wellington in a fashion that would provoke an angel, and he does not pretend to possess an angelic temperament. As for the Acting Mayor of the capital, we are constrained to say that any mortification suffered by that very officious and bellicose functionary has been richly deserved. He may be “a grey-headed “ old man, with a pleasant manner and “ indifferent physique ” —interesting characteristics, no doubt, but net noticeably relevant to the issue—with a very imperfect knowledge, considering the length of time ho has been connected with public bodies, of the amenities or ethics of public life. The salient fact is that by ignoring the “confidential” character of the draft regulations issued by the Public Works Department—nay, more, by deliberately making public a document which he was politely requested to return if he could not see his way to observe the pledge of secrecy which the Minister was quite within his rights in imposing—and by giving a wrong-headed load to tramway proprietaries throughout the Dominion, the Acting Mayor is very largely responsible for whatever trouble arose. When the

Minister and the Acting Mayor came together it was inevitable, under the circumstances, that there should be strained relations between them, for the Hon. H. M‘Kenzie, whatever his failings, is not the hind of man to take it “ lying down,” to use a wellknown sporting phrase. The Minister knew quite well that spurious political feeling was being worked up for ulterior purposes, and he was not afraid to say so, though in stating the fact he may not hare particularly studied the phraseology he employed. The interviews published in our columns yesterday make it abundantly plain that but for the determination of the majority of delegates in the first instance to take the discussion of the regulations in camera, anti but for the ready tset displayed by the chairman of the Christchurch Tramway Board (Mr G. T. Booth), the- conference and the subsequent interview with the Minister would probably have ended without any desirable result. The Wellington ‘ Post ’ (which appears to have been regathered, like a temporarily lost sheep, into the Opposition fold) rates Mr Booth in a strain of denunciation which recalls the palmy days of the ‘ Eatanswill Gazette’; but our contemporary's confidence that “the Christchurch City Council “will see good ground to rebuke Mr “Booth” is not likely to be justified. The fact is that the Southern delegates are by no means dissatisfied with the assurances given by the Minister of Public Works, and they entertain a confided hope that the ultimate arrangements will prove fairly satisfactory to all parties. It is beginning to be recognised that the early stages of the agitation were marked by an unreasonable and rather undignified hastiness. The Mayor of Roslyn does well to recall that “the regulations, though drawn “up in drastic form, were submitted to “all interested, accompanied by a letter “from the department which was clearlv “marked ‘confidential,’ and which fur- “ ther stated that the regulations submitted “ were only ‘ proposed ’ regulations, and “ that the department invited consideration and suggestions.” Moreover, while partisans are abusing the Minister of Public Works in unmeasured terms, it is satisfactory and reassuring to have Mr Hamel's statement that “the members of “ the deputation came away with the impression that the Minister was earnest “in his endeavor to secure a reasonable “ degree of safety for the travelling public “without inflicting unnecessary hardships “ on the various train companies and local

“ authorities.” Wo have every hope that the matters in dispute will be amicably or at least fairly settled, and that the effect will be to diminish the overcrowding nuisance that is imperative without trenching too seriously upon the financial resources of the municipally-managcd tramway enterprises.

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Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19110729.2.66

Bibliographic details

Evening Star, Issue 14631, 29 July 1911, Page 6

Word Count
799

The Evening Star SATURDAY, JULY 29, 1911. Evening Star, Issue 14631, 29 July 1911, Page 6

The Evening Star SATURDAY, JULY 29, 1911. Evening Star, Issue 14631, 29 July 1911, Page 6