CITY TRAMWAYS LOAN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19712, 11 August 1927, Page 12

CITY TRAMWAYS LOAN.

ADDRESSES AT REMUERA. POLICY OF EXTENSIONS. j THE MOTOR-BUS SERVICES. LIVELY PASSAGES AT MEETING. There were some lively, but amusing end good-humoured passages, in the meeting held at Remuera last evening in preparation for next week's poll on the £500,000 tramway loan. About 70 persons attended. The Mayor, Mr. G. Baildon, presided, and'the speakers were Miss E. .Melville and Mr." J. A. C. Allum, chairman of the City Council s 1 ramways Committee. < Miss Melville upheld the principle that the council's first duty was to the inhabitants of the tramway area. The council •would do what it could to provide the more remote suburbs with reasonable bus services, but it must give preference to the needs and interests of the people m the area which it was bound to serve. Miss Melville described the works to he carried out with the loan money and declared the council had a "'reasonable reason" for everything it was asking the ratepayers to sanction. Mr. Allum dealt with general policy on the lines of his speech at the Ponsonby meeting. He emphasised that the council did not intend to run non-paying bus services, but that where it had been compelled to take over private services it would give them a fair trial. If they did not pay they would be dropped. This policv would be followed with regaid to the Henderson service. Profit-earning Basis. Repeating that the present fare concessions were both unsound and unsafe, ' Mr. Allum said they might well lead the public to think either that the concessions—ranging /up to over 30 per cent.—had been or, in the alternative, that the cash fares were too high. The aim of the council now was to make cash fares as low as possible. "I am convinced that if you give us a little time we can re-establish the undertaking on a profit-earning basis," added Mr. Allum. "When that stage is reached we shall be able to bring new proposals before" you. It was estimated the new policy, if losses and gains were set against each other, would result in a loss of only £SOOO for the current year, although the estimated reduction in revenue was £50,000. When question time came, Mr. Allum •was,- bombarded; with" queries, many of them hostile. ' "The Remuera, extension loan was jaised and then spent illegally," said one questioner. "Are ,we being asked to vote on it again ?" Mr. Allum agreed the money raised in 1923 for the extension had been spent chiefly in buying' motor-buses, but added that Parliament had afterwards validated ■what had been done. "You are not com- . pelled to vote," he said. "I can assure you, as the council's representative, that the schedule of • works set down for this loan will be carried out. If any changes are madej they will be submitted to the ratepayers as- separate issues." A Parochial Proposal. Mr. Allum several times protested against attempts by questioners to delve into the past. "We are not giving any sops away," was his reply' to. another who complained/ about the increase in Remuera concession ticket-fares. Mr. Allum rejected as parochial a sug- ' gestion that if the loan were defeated the 'council might undertake tramway extension in Auckland City only. "If we do not provide transport others will," he said. "If the'' city ratepayers will not put up the money others will come in and claim the right to do so." Several questioners became so argumentative that the Mayor had now and then to intervene. Later, when Mr. Lundon was attempting to put a series of questions in rapid succession, as if Mr. Allum were a witness, Mr. Baildon stopped him. "Mr. .{Lundon and a friend of his are having quite a good time and are getting a lot of fun out of this—" lie began. Mr. Lundon: I appreciate your sentiment, sir—your desire to avoid criticism. Mr. Baildon; They have followed us round to the last three meetings. They have only four nights to go, but they are a bit of a nuisance. Vote of Thanks Passed. Another mejmber of the audience who had asked many questions rose and said he greatly admired Mr. Allum's pluck and determination. (Applause.) 'Mr. Lundon: I have much pleasure in moving a vote of thanks to both speakers. I have attended three meetings. Last night I maintained an impenetrable silence. To-night it is not so. (Laughter.) Miss Melville is an asset to the council. Mr, Allum has the courage of his convictions. I move a hearty vote of thanks to them and hope that in the future they will see the error of their ways. (More laughter.) Mr. H. P. Taylor seconded the motion. He said he was evidently the person referred to by the Mayor, but it did not follow that he had been in collusion with Mr. Lundon. As a member of the City West Ratepayers' Association he had come to gain information. Mr. Baildon: I do not mind people attending so long as they do not make a nuisance of themselves. The motion was carried amid applause arid laughter,. TRAFFIC RECEIPTS HIGHER. COMPARISON WITH LAST YEAR. Amplifying a statement made at a public meeting on Tuesday by Mr. L. .\. Ladv that the tijffic receipts of the Auckland city tramway and bus services for th'} first /four months o: the current financial year, had ben £30.000 more tnan those for the same period of last year, Mr. J. A. (Allum, chairman of the: Tramways Committee, stated yesterday that_the actual increase was £32,000. "The expenditure for the four months Was within jiur estimates," .said Mr. Allum. "We have bad to spend a large Amount of money in reconditioning buses ■which we were compelled to take over in order that they may meet the requirements of the Public Work, Act. However, that is non-recurring expenditure. We are also making a number of economies, the effects of which are yet only partly apparent." Respecting the increase in receipts. Mr. Allum said it was equivalent, to 15 pr cent. for the whole four months. In Ihe last two weeks the increases had been 27i per cent, and 23 per cent, re fipectively. . This was probably due to the stoppage of community bus service:*. Of the £32,000, trams contributed £2l ///) Rnd buses £10,500. If the present level of traffic was maintained the outlook Would be decidedly good.