TRANSPORT EVOLUTION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20137, 24 December 1928, Page 6

TRANSPORT EVOLUTION.

DAYS OF THE HORSE TRAMS CONSTANT BUS COMPETITION. HUMOURS OF THE ROADS. HUGE HERNE BAY STABLES. No. 11. The horse trams ran from 1834- until 1902, when the electric system was inaugurated. The company was named the City of Auckland Tramways and Suburban Company. Throughout its existence it was continually facing competition by buses, but it paid its way, and the financial difficulties which finally placed it in the hands of the Bank of New Zealand were largely due, it is said, to land liabilities. Land interests included areas at St. Heliers and on Surrey Hills, and most of them were finally administered by the Assets Realisation Board. The last three managers were Messrs. F. A. White, J. B. Malcolm and J. S. Kidd, and for a period during the bank's authority, Messrs. W. and J. Paterson the service under lease. More interesting than the "bygones" in the financial fortunes of the enterprise, however, are memories of the undertaking itEelf. The first line ran from the foot of Queen Street up Wellesley and Pitt Streets to Karangahape Road and apparently without the haste a restless spirit would have urged eventually extended itself to Ponsonby Road and along it to the Three Lamps. Originally the stables were about the site of Messrs. Leyland-O'Brien's offices in Fanshawe Street, but later they were removed to the corner now knowu as the Heme Bay tram barn, to which an extension froii the Three Lamps was made, and others were established at Epsom and Onehunga. Overcrowding the Rule. The only other line was to, Newmarket, via Sjmonds Street, and it was extended later as far as the Epsom tram barn, where the service linked up with buses to Onehunga. Thirty-six trams comprised the fleet, many buses ran on various routes and 350 horses were employed. The trams were of two sizes, the larger type being designed to carry 24 passengers seated and 14 standing; over-crowd-ing was common and as many as 70 people were sometimes packed on board. The fare to the Three Lamps was threepence up till 8 p.m., after which it was sixpence. That to Newmarket was the same and to Epsom double. The inward trip from Three Lamps was done in half an hour, which was no leisurely journey for the horses, which had to travel at a smart trot.

Spirited rivalry prevailed between the trams and the buses, the drivers of which often engaged in races, which had their humorous side, particularly on a stretch of single line, when a tram driver snw that if he waited at a loop to pass a sister-vehicle a bus would dash by to secure the next group of waiting passengers. He often met the situation by driving his tram off the line and after passing driving it on again, thence proceeding at the soundest pace his team could muster. The traditional spirit of the "cabby" prevailed, but the tram had the general advantage, not on account of superior speed always, but because the average person would rather spend double the time in a vehicle on rails than in a Taus rocking along the atrociously much roads of the day. Most People Walked.

"But," remarked a cheerful philosophei who does not appear to have grown old in the tims, "most people walked in those days. Only the minority had the fare. Carpenters, I remember, received 25s a week when the tram company built the Epsom Show Ground grandstand, though some very superior men got -30s, and at the time the electric system began horse train drivers received £2 5s a week and they worked 12 hours a day for it. No. There was no loss of dignity nor a feeling of hardship when we walked and saved threepence." He was asked if many people did not drive their own traps or ride their own hacks. "Only the few," he replied. "Of course it was the thing for the yoa :g men to own hacks and at week-ends they put a bit of oats into them and went riding, but few could afford to hard-feed fheir hacks all the time and many had to save grazing costs by hiring their steeds when they got a chance. The tram horses were given a task of 18 miles a day, getting a spell of a quar-ter-of-an-hour between each trip, hut the daily haul -was a fairly heavy one, particularly when trams weighing in themselves three tons were overcrowded. For the Wellesley Street incline extra lead horses were kept, one or two being attached according to need. The lead horses and their boy postillions were an institution and their galloping down to the bottom after unhitching at the top made a stir in the locality. One hundred and fifty horses were stabled at the Heme Bay depot. The stalls were divided, Yankee fashion, by hanging bars and at times there was great commotion on the cobhled floor whei a number of them, forgetful of the morrow's toil, playfully pushed the bars about. A small stocky type of horse proved the best for the job. Originally large numbers with "blood" were brought from Wanganui for the trams, but they were supplanted by "Waikato brods," and hy Queensland importations. Tha horses came in raw from the runs, the company doing its own breaking at its St. Heliers farm. Cheap Queensland Horses. The reason for making 'mportations from Queensland was that station-bred horses, to all intenls and purposes wild, could be bought for one pound a head. These "fiery untamed" were shipped in droves and at St. Heliers, were swum ashore and there were exciting doings when the breakers set to work. However, many a beast bred on the ranges of Waikato and Queensland settled down to a career of steady toil, in front of an Auckland City tram. One imagines a horse would have chosen a better fate, ever though the rations were regular and good. It was during the period of supervision by the bank that the company purchased Potter's Paddock at Epsom. The purpose was to create business. It built grandstands and provided the facilities required for the agricultural shows, the meetings of the Onehunga Racing Club and later the trotting club. Rugby football had formerly been played on Dilworth property, but the game was transferred to Potter's, and there also such shows as Buffalo Bill's held their seasons. All this provided tram traffic and the company could count on one or two gatherings at Potter's Paddock every week. The company had several subsidiary bus services, one being from the Three Lamps via College Hill to the foot of Victoria Street. "In the main," said an oldtimer, "it was always a case of nip and tuck with the horse trams, because the conditions of the concession had to be guarded. Bus competition was often merry and many busmen were run off. Davey Parker gave it a good run in Ponsonby and Kerr and Owsley hung on till the end. The public seemed to be satisfied with what was provided, but, as I have remarked, many were not greatly interested, seeing than their resources placed them in the walking brigade. Accidents were few. I remember only one fatal accident, and m that case there was reason for believing that the victim had gone to sleep on tM linn.''