CITY TRAMWAY TRACKS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20970, 5 September 1931, Page 13

CITY TRAMWAY TRACKS.

PROGRESS OF REPAIR WORK. CONSIDERABLE IMPROVEMENT. RELIEF LABOUR EMPLOYED. The bad condition into which some of the city tramway tracks had fallen as a result of shortage of money for their repair is rapidly being remedied by the Transport Board. The surface of the permanent way on many of the older routes had become a motorists' nightmare, and at many points had constituted a real danger with their pot-holes, and rails which lay naked almost to their full depth. Numerous protests had been made to tho board and it seemed that the annual allocation for track maintenance would not be sufficient to overtake the arrears of works requiring urgent attention. In February, however, the board was able to take advantage of the No. 5 unemployment relief scheme and an active policy of reconstruction and repair has been going on ever since. About 350 men are employed under the scheme and already the worst of the work has been put in hand and a formidable portion completed. Since February 9 the sum of £47,000 has been spent on the work by the board. Of that total the Unemployment Board has contributed £17,000 and the Transport Board £30,000. The board thus finds about £2 for £1 allocated from Wellington, the weekly grant now being £6OO. The bad condition into which tho tracks had fallen in Karangahape Road resulted in a complicated scheme of reconstruction in that thoroughfare. The tracks originally were laid on boggy ground and under the weight of traffic extending over a number of years they slowly subsided. It was found necessary to find new foundations and reinforced concrete rafts on which the new tracks will be supported are now being laid. The work is one of magnitude and is being carried out by the board's regular outside staff, no relief men being engaged there. Extensive works also are in progress in Customs Street East, Rernuera Road, at Kingsland and Morningside and in Khyber Pass Road. Completed works are those at Heme Bay, a small section in Ponsonby Road, a length of track in ltemuera Road between Newmarket and Bass<jtt Road, and a strip in Patteson Street, Freeman's Bay. How long the present repair works will be continued will depend largely upori' the policy of the Unemployment Board.