CUSTOMHOUSE QUAY

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1774, 7 March 1906, Page 73

CUSTOMHOUSE QUAY

AN UNNECESSARY RAILWAY RESTRICTION.

A remarkable anomaly that faces tlie citizens of Wellington year, in and year out, without apparently rousing anything more than the isolated notice of one.or two' public men, is presented bv the fenced-off railway area on Customhouse,, quay. The anomaly will be most evident' if one compares Customhouse quay with Jervois quay. On the latter, as on the former, there is a double line of tramway and a single railway line. But while the vehicular traffic on Jervois quay may cross and recross the unprotected railway lino anywhere, on Customhouse quay there is tho aforesaid rail fence separating a strip of roadway, some 44ft in width, from the rest of the street. \ Both these thoroughfares are main arteries of traffic, providing as they do access to. and from the Queen’s Wharf.' 1 ■ A/,; ,-V , . - .Tlie fence which leads this casual, unchallenged ' existence, almost in ; the middle of. Customhouse quay, can. surely, not be there for the- protection of pedestrians. If it is, then why not protect tlie pedestrian oil/ Jervois quay?. Nor can it possibly he there to' prevent liorse traffic frond bustling the engine off tlie rails, because if the engine is liable to be so troubled, it-can just as easily suffer such interference in one street as the other. The fence can scarcely be there to keep out the wind, because it is not that sort of a fence, and no one will claim that- it. is there for ornament. Ft simply seems to have growsi there, and heroine an institution. That tho City Council, has never made a serious effort to get it uprooted is

simply an instance of how easy it is for people and institutions to fall into a

| rue. ■/-/■■, - { If the fence was removed,, and if Customhouso quay, was .formed -and, levelled right up to the new Harbour Boaixl sheds,*' as.vik .the • cade on Jer.vpis quay, there would oe a .fine, thoroughfare 100 ft wide,- jiow ' only vs6ft wide’. The work Ayould entail s some lowering of the rail'iway, which, would be ddne simultaneously'with the street- formation, and would probably not entail much additional cost. .Carts, instead of having to make a detour, could proceed directly to and from the Harbour Board sheds,--as i@ the pase everywhere else in the • city. fenced-off strip of land, or most of it;

iiM vested in Tho depart a strip -t J \ rail wa y ; jmm* ■ tf able, fo^B ihe d(jßv’V j ’. V>X'| lino th i s coriH ‘ V. H vrV ini. ’ r Qtili; y/'.’- ‘ . '"e '*•’'! , ■ niunilH ■ utilisinaß.’. d-bV. y/' unanswei^ Ta ke iW/fx exist in g have p6ft tlie other si hardly concciv^^BBBBBHHBB|H|BH| Department, vd I be levelled off an but the departmenpHHßHßSß poet tlie City Coi j m• i of ' the work, and m; tlie land in tlie non-possession of the any legal! obstacle to ing the work is not such technical obstacle snrmO'Untable. Whether a cost with the Government or Harbo-ur Board ie' possible slioußH matter of arrangement; but, of the city interests involved, tho B(B Council should not allow any hagglin'! over terms to stand in the way of completing the work. So far, it does not appear that the CounciL has seriously approached the Railway Department. And yet the thing is an eternal eyesore and inconvenience, .and the remedy is a simple one. • ; .