A TRANSPORT LOAN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20174, 7 February 1929, Page 8

A TRANSPORT LOAN.

The authority of the ratepayers of the transport district is to be sought for a loan of £300,000 to enable the Transport Board to proceed with the first instalment of its programme for the extension of the tramway system, increase of rolling stock and improvement of facilities for handling traffic. There 'are still several stages in the formal procedure to be taken before the proposals can be submitted to public judgment, but in due course the board's constituents will be asked to vote upon them. It is unfortunate that there should have been a division of opinion in the board upon tho dimensions of the programme, financial and constructive, to be presented to tho Loans Board and the ratepayers. A plan of development has been approved which represents about four years' work, if it is carried out in a prudent fashion. It is improbable that tho central authority would, in the circumstances, refuse its sanction for the whole programme, but the magnitudo of the proposition might raiso doubts in the minds of the board's constituents sufficient to prejudice the result of the poll. Such j

misgivings will be allayed by the demonstration of the board's intentions, inspired by the chairman's wise counsel, to proceed with moderation. It is estimated that the first instalment of the programme can be completed in 16 or 15 months from the time work is actually started* That is sufficiently far ahead for the board to commit itself or the ratepayers -to pledge their authority. Moreover, that period will almost exactly coincide with the present board's term of office, after which a general election of its members is to be held, and there arc weighty considerations against any binding of the succeeding administration. The limited proposal will provide sufficient money foi the board to spend in a reasonable time, it ensures a substantial development of an orderly programme, and maintains the right of the ratepayers io control the purse-strings after a practical testing of the new system of transport control. If the board is empowered now to construct the most urgent extensions, improve its services by increasing rolling stock and adding other equipment the lack of which has long been embarrassing, it should within the two years be abie to establish efficiency and harmony throughout the system to the satisfaction of the public. The present board is admittedly only a provisional authority, in two years its whole personnel will be subject to review, and by its decision last evening it acknowledged that the mandate in financial matters should also be referred to its constituents at the same time.