CHRISTCHURCH NEWS

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 June 1927, Page 12

CHRISTCHURCH NEWS

TRAFFIC CONTROL HARDSHIPS. (Special to •‘Star.") CHRISTCHURCH, June 10. ‘‘You’re like a cat on hot bricks. You are never ten seconds in one position. You get giddy and sick. You become iceberg blue when it’s cold, and you swelter in an oven-like heat when it’s hot —it’s murder.” Point duty is not popular with the constables of Christchurch. It may be drawn from the opinions of seven of them, expressed above, that they are waiting lor July, when the Municipal Traffic Department will take over control of traffic at city intersections. Constables attached to the Central Police Station declare that to stand even for an hour on the points at any busy period of the day is enervating and sickening. Their little wooden stand on the island is desolate and exposed, in the centre of a maddening sea of motors and cyclists, kfieir work is tedious and tiring. They are automatons, whose arms move this .vay and that at the bidding of the horns and passing cars. They live in a world of grinding brakes and rattling v.. . City Council officers say that they are not tickled with the prospect. They’re not at all anxious to do their physical jerks in public. Mr H. McIntosh, city motor inspector, when asked to-day whether he thought the work strenuous, said that he had never tried it. His men would work on the principle of an hour on and an hour off. No man would put in more than four hours on point duty each day.

CROSSING COLLISION. Nobody has been suspended in connection with the collision at Colombo' Street railway crossing on Tuesday morning, when a shunting engine rammed and derailed a crowded tramway trailer. Every man who was directly or remotely connected with the accident was at his. usual post today. Nobody can be suspended. The regulations do not provide for suspension except for drunkenness or train running irregularity. It is understood tha|t the engine-driver’s explanation of the accident has been tendered to the authorities, but no inquiry will be held. While disciplinary action may be taken, it is doubtful whether the statement will be made public regarding the collision or the steps that have been taken to prevent a recurrence of it. HEAVY COAL TRAFFIC. The electric locomotives which are used in the Otira tunnel are being kept exceptionally busy at the present time dealing with an exceptional rush of coal traffic. To-day the gross tonnage scheduled to be taken through the tunnel from Otira to Arthur’s Pass was 2160 tons, which is about 900 tons above the average. These conditions have prevailed for the past two or three days, eight trains being run between Arthur’s Pass and Springfield so as to avoid the possibility of any congestion taking place at the former station. In addition to the coal a. fairly heavy quantity of timber is coming from the West Coast, the demand for wagons being very heavy.