TRANSPORT BY LIFTS

Evening Star, Issue 21318, 24 January 1933, Page 2

TRANSPORT BY LIFTS

RAPID DEVELOPMENT IN MELBOURNE There has been rapid development in transport by lifts in Melbourne in the past five years, according to a report which has been prepared by the Labour Department. This development and the increase in speeds from 200 ft a minute some years ago to 1,200 ft at present, is attributed to the erection of many high buildings in recent years. Decently the first escalator was installed in the city, but the department has been informed that five more of these modern transport devices are to be established in city business premises. But the department .claims that mechanically Melbourne’s escalators are modern, and that those recently installed have a capacity of 6,000 passengers an hour at a speed of 00ft per minute. Declaring that accidents were almost impossible, the report states that a pleasing feature with lifts and escalators was that fully 80 per cent, of the material used was Australian, and wire cables, which were once imported from the United States, were now obtained from Newcastle. Few people are aware of the tremendous lift traffic of the city. Last year it was officially estimated that 212,000,000 persons were thus transported, and the number of accidents was very small.