ALTERING TRAMCARS.
'A COSTLY EXPERIMENT.
f.BT TELEGRAPH.—SPECIAL COrjIESPONEZNT.]
; Wellington, Thursday. According to Mr. Wilford (Mayor of Wellington, the clause that Mr. Davey succeeded last evening in introducing into' the Tramways Amendment Bill will cost Wellington dearly.
The clause referred to reads as follows: —-" (1) All tramcars shall be so con-, structed as to provide a passage-way from one end of the car to the other; (2) at least 10 per centum of the existing cars (including cars constructed pursuant to a contract entered prior to the passing of this Act) which are not in compliance with thin provision shall be converted annually so as to bring them in compliance therewith."
" If the Government persists in retaining that clause," says Mr. Wilford, "my personal opinion is that the best thing we can do is to ask the Government to take over the whole concern, run it, and pay the liabilities." Mr. Wilford quotes facts and figures in support of his statement. The cost of alteration, according to the electrical engineer, will be £400 a car, a total of about £25,000, and the seating capacity will be reduced from 3000 to 2000. It will be necessary to provide an additional 30 cars to make the total carrying capacity of the " Davey" cars equal to that of the present types. The , extra cars will cost £1200 each, a total of £36,000. Thus the aggregate extra outlay hero would be £61,000. The estimates of £50 and £100 per car as the cost of alterations (mentioned in the House last night) are quite inadequate for Wellington, where the narrow width of the cars involves reconstruction to effect the specified alterations.
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Bibliographic details
New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14810, 13 October 1911, Page 6
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275ALTERING TRAMCARS. New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14810, 13 October 1911, Page 6
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