THE TRAMWAY GAUGE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CIX, Issue 13109, 24 April 1903, Page 6

THE TRAMWAY GAUGE.

ACCEPTANCE OF THE STANDARD,

At'yesterday's meeting of the Tramway Board the Chairman (Mr W. Reece) brought up the matter of the. gcuge of the proposed electrical tramways. He moved that theBoard should adopt the 4ft gauge for its trams. Some wrong impression had got about among the public as to the present gauge, and he wished to make it clear that the Board did not propose to increase the present gauge, for it was actually 4ft Bjiik The cars would be Ilia over all wider than the actual 4ft Biin. In reply to a questionj the Engineer (Sir F. H. Chamberlain) stated that the standard distance between the' centres of ; two parallel tracks was lOfi ■- Continuing, the Chairman said that'he had found-that there were very few lines in America with a gauge narrower than tha standard. In New York he had seen several important lines being laid . to tha standard gauge. In Great Britain and Ireland there wero 1675 miles of electrical tramways, and 1171 miles were built to tha standard gauge. All the important towns went in for the standard size. The narrow gauge, where it had been introduced, always meant that the whole system had had to suffer, because some special reason excluded a wide gauge. The motion wa9 seconded by Mr A. B. Morgan, who said that all the information he had been able to gather was'favourable to the gauge proposed. The Engineer stated, in reply to ai member of the Board, that the gauge • of the tramways in Auckland and Dunedin was 4ft B£in, and all Australian towns had adopted this gauge.

Mr A. W. Beaven stated that he was in. favour of the motion, for he thought that the most important result of the adoption, of tho standard gauge would be the readiness with which it could be repaired and improved. The tendency with manufactur-ers-would be to make apparatus to standard. size, and the; benefit from the- adoption. o{ the standard size was easily apparent. >. Mr F. "Waymouth said-that\he must sup/, port the adoption of-the standard gauge, a?' adding to the comfort and convenience of. the travelling public. .The larger the cars could be made the more efficient the service must become. The motion was carried.