FIFTY YEARS AGO

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21968, 27 November 1934, Page 6

FIFTY YEARS AGO

AUCKLAND'S TRAMWAYS HUGE TRAFFIC INCREASE - An interesting cqmparison between . the present extensive tramway services j in Auckland and the system of 50 years : ago, when the cars were drawn by. horses, can be made from the following extract from the New Zealand HebaU) of November 27, 1884: ! " The Tramway Company are no* carrying over 6000 passengers per week. It is fouhd that the extension along ] Customs Street West to Billington's store, Patteson Street, Freeman's Bay, . has led to an increase in traffic. The line is now laid along Jervois Road from the Three Lamps to the terminus,' Wallace Street, where the construction oi the carsheds is now finished, the stables will soon be completed also, as this - roofing is, now going on. "Some felt at the fares being doubled after 8 p.m., but as the trips after that hour are special ones, simply run for the benefit of parsons going to places of amusement, the company consider that the charge is a reasonableone. On Saturday nights, when ordinary rates are charged, the buses are so overcrowded that the horses - suffer severely and the carriage of halt the number of -people at evening rates, would allow comfortable seating and give the same financial result, with perhaps more satisfaction to those using the cars.--It is not yet known when the| company will lav the rails? in College Road, as the City Council is to call :> tenders immediately for cutting down, metalling and forming the road." The present number of passengers carried each week in trampaVs in Auckland is nearly 150 times as great as at that time, the average weekly total> for 1933 being 845,753.