ELECTRIC TRAMS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1403, 19 January 1899, Page 24

ELECTRIC TRAMS.

IN AMERICA AND ELSEWHERE. Mr G. M. Yerex has returned from America, and England and elseAvhere. On Monday a " Mail" reporter Availed on him and Avanted to knoAV all about his observations in regard to electric traction. A congenial subject, evidently, by the way Mr Yerex " cottoned on." Not only is electricity Used ih eonheetiofi \vith city street cars in America, he pointed out; but the people Utilised it ih competition with coaches, railways and other conveyances all OvCr the country: Especially are the electric ears tho media of communication between one town and another; and electric tram lines run side by side Avith railway lines right into the country for miles and miles. There is an exhilaration about electric traction, apparently, which train travelling lacks, whilst the latter's monopolies are principally smoke and smell. Besides, electric cars lend themselves readily to the sweet uses of picnicking and so forth, and one can arrange for a special car in ten minutes—a special train, as everyone knows, is a matter of days, if not weeks. Then for short distance riding trains arernot in it with electric trams for cheapness. It is the exception, wo are told, to find a town of 5000 inhabitants in America which lacks a street car system. Mr Yerex knoAvs that comparisons are odious, but notwithstanding that, it wounds his patriotism, he is prone to confess, that the underground car system of Boston " knocks the underground rail' way system of London into a cocked hat." To ride in a Boston car brilliantly lighted, and read your newspaper, is a dream of splendour, To tortuously thread in dark and evil-smelling carnages the entrails of subterranean London is to contract inflammation of the throat, and if the dose is repeated often, homicidal mania. The English authorities are, however, mending matters in this respect where new lines are being made, but there is still much to be hoped for. In New York much remains to be done before a perfect transit system is evolved. Although they have got electric and horse cars, cable cars, elevated tramways and railw°— sufficient to cope with ordinary day traffic, it is in the mornings and at night timo that the visitor sees and experiences what crushing and crowding really is. Clerks, Workmen and artisans of both sexes simply swarm the whole of the available vehicles; standing room is at a premium, and no invalids heed apply. Thousands of the weaker vessels avlio do not secure seats in advance have to walk their two, three, four or five miles, as the case may be, to and from their employment. Mr Yerex is no chicken himself, but with a herculean companion to guide him through the scrum on one occasion when the mob was at its ebb, he had to be content with tiptoe accommodation and no elbow-room. "As to price? Well, you can almost go from anywhere to anyAvhere, along whole circuits for five cents (2.}d)." It is possible, by getting transfers, to go from one end of the system to tho other for that pv'ce. P is contemplated in New York to hui'd a complete underground system from north to south, but with the innovation that the motive power will be draAvn from underground wires encased in subvaults instead of from overhead as at present. This will be a little more expensive in the initiatory stages, but much more satisfactory in the long run. Sydney is making the mistake, Mr Yerex observes, of sticking to the old system in the erection of electric tram apparatus in her narrow streets. He hopes that that mistake will not be made in Wellington if in the future we determine on the establishment of an underground service. Mr Yerex pooh-poohs the objection that "you must have the population to make electric traction pay," if by that it is meant that it would not pay in a city like Wellington. The continued expansion of the system into even comparatively sparsely-populated districts of America, in the face of competition, is an answerto all pessimists—"because, you know, they rarely or never do anything for nothing in America."

The Petone Co-operative Society is receiving such encouragement from local residents that its directors propose the appointment of a permanent secretary and manager.