EVENTS OF THE DAY.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 5729, 26 October 1905, Page 4

EVENTS OF THE DAY.

SERIOUS WEAR- OF TRAM-RAILS. Though it is only just over a year since the through electric tramway service via the express route was thrown open, it has been discovered that some cf the corner steel rails (they Weigh 951 b to tho yard), are already worn out, and steps havo been taken by the Engineer to replace them at once. The great wear and tear in rounding the right angular iurns-.in the Wellington system has been on tho “chock” of the rail, or inner rim, 'against which the heavy wheels grind so cornplamingly as they aro forced to carry the cars round abrupt corners. Many of these corner nails, especially the inner track ones, aro showing signs of the work placed on them. Tho worst spot so far discovered -is the junction of Featherston and Ballanco streets. There the “check” of tho inner rail, originally half an inch thick-, has been worn down to a knife-like edge, and to allow it to go further wore to risk making a breach in the rail, with the possibility of a serious accident. It is at this comer that a gang of men are employed _at present replacing the worn nails with others in stock—the residue of the main tramway contract. That is not , however, the only point where there is likely to be trouble. At the Luxford street turn tho “check” of the rail is becoming alarmingly thin, and passengers ever that section are always “ jarred ” by tho grinding of the heavy car-wheels around the curve. At Are street. Aitken street, arid the curves on the Wallace street section signs of rough wear- are alarmingly apparent. Though it was anticipated that the traffic would be heavily felt on some ol the sharper turns, it was never estrmated that a year’s use would see some of the rads on the scrap heap.

OUR NEEDLESSLY SHARP CURVES.

It was not without Naming, however, that our tramway system was made with so many unnecessary corners. i£u<i tho ivamiiig boon Jicodcd, a numbor of the sharper turns would have been avoided, and the city would have been relieved of what promises to become an irksome liability. Tho route v ithiu tho city was left to a stranger to determine, - with the result that, though it was obvious at the time, many expensive mistakes were made. Of these the Aitken street route was about the worst. .. Instead of the line from Lambton.jjhay'to Tinakori road branching olf-the main line in Lamhton quay, where that thoroughfare is widest (in front of the Government Buildings), and proceeding with a half-curve only up Charlotte street, and so past the House of Parliament into Molesworth street, it leaves the trunk line where tho quay is narrowest (at the northern end of tho Hotel Cecil), ascends a steep incline to Mulgrave street, then turns into Aitken street—where nobody lives —and so along that thoroughfare by another right angular turn into Molesworth street. Why an intelligent Mayor and Council should have lent themselves to the Aitken. street route is past understanding. ■ Then a lino should have branched in an easy curve from the Jervois quay line, and been carried along past tho power-house to Taranaki street, or even right along Victoria street past the To Aro railway station, and so by a natural sweep to Oriental Bay and Kent terrace. Every corner on the Rintoul ’ street-island Bay section, too, could have been avoided by taking the lino straight over the Adelaide road rise. It would bo well, since this quest ion-of repairs promises so unexpectedly to b© an annual one, if the Council considered tho question whether the curves now laid down are mathematically the ones causing tho least wear and tear on the rails. CHILDREN in parliament. The chief feature of tji© competitive essays that we invited from the children of the primary schools giving their personal observations upon our Legislature made from the galleries of the House was the importance the writers almost invariably attached to the meaningless forms by moans of which the House, following old-established precedent, conducts its business. With hardly any exception, tho children noted the fact of the flying of tho flag to inform an anxious city that the “ Talking Shop ” was open. Tho mace, too, had for these juvenile observers an extraordinary attraction. The manner in which it was brought into the Chamber, the precise moment at which it was deposited on the table, the obeisance that members made, or omitted to make, to the mystic thing—all these minutiae had for the children a grave importance. Tho garb of tho Speaker, the position of the seats of the parties in the House, and the members' manner of speech, were also matters for serious comment, and, as will bo seen from the extracts from the essays we publish on another page, occasional reproof. Tho essays, on the whole, displayed considerable literary ability; and though the comments of

the boys reached a higher level of critical ability than those of the girls, this may he put down to tho fact that the majority of the essays submitted was t!)e work of boys. Much naivo humour will be apparent in the extracts quoted both in tho winning essays published in yesterday’s issue and in tho extracts wo publish to-day. It is evident that tho children havo gleaned some useful information of tho ways of our Legislature ; and wo trust that some good, oven at this Into hour, will result in tho conduct of members from tho occasional censure of their youthful critics.