AUCKLAND TRAMWAYS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 15055, 26 July 1912, Page 8

AUCKLAND TRAMWAYS.

(THE UPPER QUEEN-STREET)

EXTENSION.

NECESSARY LAND TO. BE SECURED

Another stage has been reached in the agitation for the extension of the tramway along Upper Queen-street. The Electric Committee, reported to the City Council last evening" that it had received' a letter from Mr. W. J. Napier, stating that Mr. Hutchison, secretary of the Tramway Extension League, had interviewed Mr. A. E. T. Devore, solicitor for/the owners of the property at the comer of Upper Queenstreet and Karangahapo Boadj and the' latter stated that the property was held by trustees with certain limited power's, and that if the City Council would extend the tramway through Upper Queen-street to the Karangahapo Road line he' would advise his clients to consent to the piece of land being taken without payment of any compensation Mr. Abbott's lease required the sanction of the Supreme Court and was now before Mr. Justice Edwards for that purpose. Mr. Devore was of the opinion, as was the Tramway Extension League, that no compensation could be awarded, and the latter would assist the Council by producing evidence that the property would not be depreciated in value by the taking of the small piece for widening the footpath. The Council was recommended to take the land •under the Public Works -Act.', ;

The committee recommended : that ,so soon as the Council had com© to a satisfactory understanding with the lessee of the property, the Council should proceed at once to take the strip of land required under the Public Works Act, as suggested. The recommendation was adopted. '■ Supply of Electricity.

A letter' was received from the Auckland Tramways Company, stating that since it concluded its arrangement on April 22 for the supply of electric power for tramway purposes 'from the Council's power-station, it had been negotiating with the Council's electrical engineer for a further supply for Exhibition year. Tho terms arranged were that the Council was to reserve for tramway purposes a further 500 kilowatts, with an allowance for occasional overloads of 20 per cent. ; that this supply was to be at the rate of Id per unit, less five per cent, discount, on the understanding unit the company guarantee a minimum consumption of 750,000 units per annum, which, in conjunction with their previous arrangement, meant a total minimum consumption of 1,250,000 units per annum during the time the arrangement for the additional supply remained in force. : The arrangement was agreed to on the recommendation of the Electric and Water Committee. '~ Rolling Stocl Additions. Another oar, No. 126, has been put into commission for the Auckland tramways service, having been passed by the Public Works Department. The work on the 20 cars under construction is proceeding satisfactorily, and although, there will be some delay in the delivery of the first few owing to the disorganisation of shipping from Europe, the company anticipates that the dates in the schedule, submitted to the Council will be adhered to so far as the later cars are concerned. In view of the proposed Exhibition, arrangements have been made for the construction of a further 15 cars, which will bring the company's total number of cars to 161. A contract for the construction of the bodies locally by the D.S.C. and Cousins and Cousins, Limited, has been arranged upon the basis of the delivery of threo cars each month, commencing from March next/ by which time the 20 now under construction should be completed. Time-table Irregularities. In view of the complaints recently made regarding missed tramway trips, the Tramways Company has written to the City Council stating that the' time-table is kept as far as possible, and asking if the Council can give specific instances where the city traffio inspector suggested the company had failed in this respect.." The traffic inspector suggested to the Council that as the Onehunga, Epsom, and Ponsonby cars were rather irregular in the time-table, the times for the trips should be extended, but the Tramways Company has replied that it cannot see its way to do this. '