THE TRAMWAYS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CVI, Issue 12586, 22 August 1901, Page 2

THE TRAMWAYS.

MUNICIPAL CONTROL. THE COMPANY’S PROPOSALS. Representatives of local bodies d» Christchurch and the vicinity met in the City Council Chamber's last evening to discuss a proposal by the Sydenham Borough Conned that the local bodies should take over the control of tramways running through, their districts.. '

The Mayor of Christchurch , (Mr- A.E. Q. Rhodes) presided, aaid the New Brighton, Linwood, Sumner,' Wodston, Sydenham and St ’Albans Borough Councils were represented, as well as the Christchurch City Council. The delegate front the Selwyn County Council wrote apologising for absence.'

In reply to the Chairman, Mr E. Jones (Sydenham) said that the Sydenham Borough Council thought - that something should - be'dene at ohoa to come to an arrangement on the subject between the various local bodies. There wa s not tod "much time" to spare, and if- 1 they were going to have an up-to-date tramway system, steps should be taken at once l .-

A letter from the Christchurch Tramway Company, acquainting the conference with the views and intentions of the Board of directors was read. The communication states that by Sir James Prendergasb's award 1 made on the Arbitration' held at the end of 1899, the greater part of the company’s concessions come to an end on Sept. 24, 1904. The company 'may 'then femiot'e' the rails, or may,- one month before Sept. 24, 1904, give notice to the local bodies to take rip the rails within three months. The rails are, in the latter case, to be sold by the Corporation, and the proceeds, alter deducting the cost of removal, are to go to the company. On Sept. 24, 1904, the company will therefore remain owners of the end portions of the Sumner, Addington and 'Port Hills lines, for varying terms of years, and of all the- rolling stock, plant ; and premises. “ The company’s owneri ship of those jmrtipiis etdhe lines,” the lei ter states, “will nq doubt make it more difficult for the incoming tramway authorities, whoever, they may be, to start a complete tramway service for the'district. But the company, are willing to sell out, or in atny other way to deal with the local bodies i on any reasonable terms. They will soli :to the local bodies their unexpired interest -in all the lines, including their plant, rolding stock, and various other properties at ‘a, foil: price as fixed by valuation. ■ If tbe local bodies think fit, the company, if a sufficient extension of their concessions was ; granted, would' theipselyes.. find the neces-, ;sary capital do establish a modern service. If the local, bodies should ‘ prefer to own the lines, but to lease the right to work them, the company would be prepared to stake such a lease. The company are, therefore, prepared to consider fayoura.bly any proposals either for sale or lease which the local bodies may care to make. . But. what the directors particularly desire to bring under the notice of the conference is, that they are anxious to know at once what the local bodies propose to do, more especially with regard to the company’s plant. If they decided to buy frop the company either now or. in Sept., 1904, the agreement to purchase, should be entered into now. But if the local bodies do hot see their way. to bind themselves to buy the rolling, stock and other pfoperty of the. company cither now or in. 1904, then the company will be forced to consider their position with special reference to the fact that they may be left in 1904 with all their plant and rolling stock on their hands, only requiring to use enough of it for the portions of .the lines then, remaining to them. As the company has but a very short term in the greater part of the lines, it is manifest that it will be incumbent on them to make -as much as possible out of the lines- during that short' term, if they have to reckon on the possibility of the local bodies not taking over their plant and rolling stock’. To that end my directors will probably raise the. fares. . This may lead to the number Of trams run being reduced. They will also refrain from building new rolling stock and perhaps withdraw some of the present cars -rather than spend money on renovating them. It is true that changes of this sorb may diminish the number of passengers carried, but fewer passengers at higher fares, will at all events for two or three years, be more profitable to the company. They will be- able to diminish their stock of horses and reduce their staff. It will be for the local bodies to consider whether it is,wise to force such a policy upon the company -which may diminish the'value of the goodwill of the tramways, as it may compel a section of the public to abandon the use of the tramways. If my directors could conclude an arrangement with the local bodies for the purchase of the company’s property either now or in 1904, it would remain still to their interest, to render the tramway service as attractive as possible to the public.. X am requested by my directors to say that they would be willing to deal with parts of. the lino at a time, por example, if the local bodies on the Christchurch-Papanui line agreed to buy a fair proportion of'? the rolling stock, etc., necessary for the working of that line, the company would sell and treat that line separately from the others. I am also to point out that you . must not assume that the rolling stock of the. company would he unsuited to a new system ■of traction. Suppose thb local bodies decided to have an elechdc «ystem»bthe oom--pany’s present cars would, allowing for the difference in value, be as useful trailers as amy new cars which could be imported. Whoever works the tramway system, they -must own a large quantity of rolling stock in- order to cope with special occasions such as holidays, thougn only a small proportion of their cars would

need to be fitted with motors. The present cars, therefore, if bought at a fair price,, would give a much larger profit than new cars/ which, of course, would cost very much more. If, for instance, the company had been granted! a new concesdou on condition that electric traction were -übstitulcd for the' present system, the company would have found profitable employment for the whole of their present .dock on holidays, and a very large part of it on the busy days which regularly , occur. The roughness of the present .ravelling on some parts of the lines is not owing to any defects in the cars, but to the road. So, ako, a® to the locomotives. While with an electric system it would be very expensive to provide a number of new locomotives for use in emergencies, tne local bodies would be wise if they took over the/company’s steam motors at the very low price at which they would be valued, in order to have steam traction available for -use during any of the break-downs which are sure to occur at first, as is always the base in a new system, and which will occasionally occur even when it has become well-established; for, naturally, an electric system'deriving all its power from one centre is liable at any time, through fires and other accidents, to sudden stops on. one or more of its lines. To provide for these .temporary breakdowns, horses could not be kept ready. Oii the other hand, steam motors could be kept ready for use at an hour’s--notice and at. a nominal expense, more especially as the men. who would drive the electric cars could, in most yases, also drive .steam motors, To illustrate my, meaning: suppose that such a stoppage occurred on a holiday, when several thousand people were at Sumner, you can easily imagine the difficulty of getting them back to town if no emergency power is available. It must -also be borne • ifn mind that 'thie construction of an entirely new system such as ah. electric system, will take a cion-, siderauie tome—a year or more, probably two years—so that in -order to provide the public with a service in the meanwhile it will be to the public interest that the local bodies should ma-ko such arrangements with the company as will provide for a continuance of -the' present service without a day’s interruption. To -recapitulate, my, directors consider that the following ■ courses are open:—lst. That the local bodies should) at once buy the company right out. 2nd'. That .the local bodies should now agree to buy.the company out in September, 1904. 3rd. That lira local bodies should grant an extended lease to the company to enable them to relay the lines and establish, a modern service. 4th. That no arrangement foe coma to, and the .company be left, it they think fit, to adopt the policy referred to tn paragraph 12 of this letter. My directors will be -ready and willing to discuss the tramway question .personally with the Conference! if desired.—-J. F. HAIITLAND, - secretary to-the Christchurch Tramway Company, Limited!.” Mr Jones, in reply to the Chairman, sai-dl that he hud’'■seme- difficulty in making a proposal, in view of the letter, which he had not had time -to digest. Some discussion, took place with regard to the .power of a local body to purchase any tramways outside- its own. boundaries. Mr Ti’ H. Davey, Mayor of St , Albans, sa-idt that his ■Council would prefer to let >. 'the' present lease run .out before deoiding on the .taking «nr«r of the line. He did not liko the tone of the letter from- the Tramway Company, which was - full - of 1 threats. There were specious -arguments in the letter, ■which were'useless. Ho would move that the Conference could not see its way to recommend the purohaite of the company’s tramway service. The directors could not rf.lsei the fares to the extent suggested, but they made a serious threat, which, thio meeting should take some) notice bf. When the- .concession was brought up, the St Albans Council had asked at what piico.th.e company would, sell a certain p-Qi’.r tdion ~ of , the line,- but- no : received. With regard ,to-locomotive®, it Was insinuated in the letter that mew material would have to be on hand to cope with holidays ; but the municipal bodies could also keep new material on hand for that purpo-se-. Almost all the arguments in the letter tS lvere absurd. Ono thing tha t had to be borne in mind was the fact that the use of motors was becoming more popular every day. It was possible that in the future the municipalities would be running ; municipal motors instead of trams. The ! motors would not be an inconvenience, and i would not necessitate -the cutting up of the streets, and rails might be done away with altogether by-and-by. The best thing the Conference could do was to appoint a strong committee to bring down an elaborate report. • Mr H. H Loughnan, City Council,\ said that he,-did not like the tone of the letter. He thought, however, that they should pause before they dealt with such proposals as those before them, as their own position should be defined. There were many details of, the scheme which should be settled before anything else was done. If a committee were formed', its first duty would be to formulate a scheme, and then the legal position of the local bodies should be settled. He was in doubt whether local . bodies could purchase any lines outside I their own boundaries. He seconded Mr Davey'a motion. I MrO. M. Gray said that, as he had stated | as the conference twelve months ago, joint control was impracticable. He was in favour of municipal control, but the control should be exercised by one body. It would be better for the city to acquire all the trams, and approach the other bodies wifli ' regard to consessions. He supported, .the irotiom, and also the idea that the use of motors might enable them to dispense with

the rails at a future date. Mr J. Hadfield, Sydenham, said, he thought that the motion was premature. .The meeting should’ not say off hand that it would have nothing to do with the putchase of the tramway service. He agreed that there were details which should) be dealt with by a sub-committee. No doubt motor traffic was coming, but whether it was coming as quickly as indicated was another question. Mr Davey, in reply to a question, said that ho did not feel inclined to withdraw the motion, as ho had' been requested! to dp by Mr Hadtieldl Mr J. Hobson, Woolston, supported the appointment of a small committee. Mr Davey ultimately withdrew liis motion, but moved that a committee should be formed, «s .suggested by him. This waa carried, and it was moved.' that •fise committee should consist of one representative from each, local body, except the City Council, which should be represented by two delegates. Mr C. Bean, Linwood, said that each member of the committee should be instructed by the body he represented in regard to the proceedings of the committee. The Mayor suggested that 1 the local bodies should have an opportunity to discuss the letter. This suggestion was adopted,- and the committee will be appointed by the Conference after the meetings of the local bodies.

Mr Davey moved that each body should be asked its opinion with regard to the formation of a Tramway Trust. The motion was seconded and carried.

It was decided to adjourn the Conference to that night four weeks.