BUILDING TRAMCARS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 5667, 15 August 1905, Page 7

BUILDING TRAMCARS.

Till-: (TTY ITS OWN HL'II/EMvK. J>FXTSIO\ OF ’mil C OI'.VCIO. That a building. to servo -is a tom- . porury workshop, be eroded at t!iecar-| sheds, at an estimated cost ot £Hot) ; j and that the necessary wood-working ■ ‘machinery ho purchased at a cost ol i'bßO. With Hu-se additions, the Coryjoratiori will he enabled to undertake* title construction of any now trarncars required.'’ This was tho first clause of the Tramway Commit tWn report at yesterday’s meeting of the City Council. Tho Mayor said tho ICngmccr was do[/.irons of having this small addition made, so that if the Conned decided to Build cars for iUsolf ho would bo able to Undertake the work. Councillor Carmichael said they ishould have further information, as tlio clause implied they wero going to manufaoturc. Tho Mayor: That is right. Councillor Carmichael; Then we should know approximately what saving there is Ukedy U> lx;. . Councillor Godher protested against the expenditure of XTddO, not because of the amount, but because of tho uu-r-atUfaclory way in which the tramway system was being run. (Hoar, hear.) There were forty-four officers employed apart from mo tor men, eon cl actors, and inspectors. Steps should bo taken to investigate the whole working ol the Bystem, in Auckland they were paying V2 to Id per cent.l, and the Council after the company had oeut. profit, received a bonus of two or three thousand pounds. He was not casting any blemish on tho iMigineer, but ho believed that when Mr W right v/as in charge things were run very extravagantly, and tho staff was overloaded. Tim new addition would mean more appointments. lie* moved that the clause be rofm-red back to tho committee. Councillor Cohen supported tho last upcakor. It was only proposed at prepent to erect a building; the nextthing would be the importation of timber from America, and then the chances were that it would bo of no use. In any case, there wore six or seven cars waiting to go on tho track at tho prei*ent time.

Councillor Ballinger, a member of tiro oomiuittce, exnkiimxl that the building was intended ohiiily as a repair 'drop. Ho took it that the present staff, with the addition of one man, would do all the proposed work. It would bo a groat improvement. Councillor Hindmarsh opposed the amendment. Ho denied any chargo of extravngunco in connection with the tramways. Tho returns provided by Mr Wright showed our system to be very favourable as compared with systems of tramways in tho Old Country. Councillor Winder was surprised at Iho objection of Councillor Godbor, who was a mombor of the Industrial Association. Tho Council had a hard task to pleaso the Industrial Association (which had objected to cars being arnportedi) and everybody else. It had been shown to tho Tramways Committee that cars could ho made cheaper in Wellington by tho Council than they would bo if imported. Councillor Godbor; So could anybody else. Councillor Winder: Woll, what ore fou objecting about? Councillor Godbor: X object to this money being expended. Councillor Biss hoped the- Council would not give too much weight to Councillor GotlboFs words. It ought to appeal to Councillors that if they hnd a stall of men for repair work, they tihould ho employed on construction work when not otherwise engaged. The snon hud to bo kept, and there should bo stand-by work for them to do in Apa.ro time. In what bettor way could they bo employed than in making row <ara? . Councillor McLaren considered the proposal a step iu the right direction. It was nothing new for corporations to imako their own cars.

The Mayor stated that the complaint uuudo by bouncillor Oodbor about too ■many employees might have been true during Mr Wright’s time, but it was •not aocurilto now. There were only half die number of ticket inspectors now that there formerly were. There wore no lazy people on the staff now. Full statements had boon _ received from Auckland, and comparisons were now being made between the two systems. The permanent workshop would be 110 ft by 51ft, and the makeshift one, which they were now authorising, would bo erected in front, and would servo until the permanent workshop was erected, when it would be used as a mess-room •end oftiecs for the cash clerks. Councillor Carmichael said -as they wore importing the underneath gear they surely did not want £SOO worth of wood-working machinery. The motion to refer back the clause tv;is lost on the voices, and the report was adopted.