THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES TUESDAY, MARCH 19, 1907. GOOD FRIDAY TRAMS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13855, 19 March 1907, Page 4

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES TUESDAY, MARCH 19, 1907. GOOD FRIDAY TRAMS.

The discussion which lias been aroused over the decision of the City Council to suspend the tramway traffic on Good Friday has fortunately had tho effect of securing that tho matter will he reopened at a special meeting of the civic authorities. Wo say' that the discussion has "fortunately" had this effect, since it is desirable that the City Council should have tho opportunity of formally retracing the false step it has taken. But it is sufficiently plain that, even though the Corporation should not review and reverse the resolution it adopted on tho subject last week, it may he restrained by legal process from the course it proposed to adopt. For since, tlio decision to suspend tho traffic on Good I'Viday was clearly ultra vires of the Order-in-Council under the terms, of which the tramway service is conducted it is distinctly of no avail. Tt is not competent for tho City Council to set aside the provisions of tho Order-in-Council in so far as (hey relate to the running of the ears any more than in respect of tlifiir requirements, on the. subject of the faros. The determination to grant a holiday to the employees on any day in the year other than a Sunday is simply unsustainable. The terms of the Order-in-Council are mandatory and the Corporation must comply with them. It should not be necessary, however, to I remind councillors of the legal obUga-

tions of the Corporation. The traffic superintendent, whoso opinion on tho question was lightly tossed asido by the Council last week, advanced tliren reasons why the recommendation to suspend the tramway traffic on Good Friday should kve been rejected. The first was that the Council had no power to lay the cars up on that day. Of this, as we havo previously observed, it should not have, necessary to remind tho authorities: the lesson of Christmas, lflOo, should not so soon have been forgotten. The other arguments were that the convenience of tho public demanded that tho cars should lie run and that the suspension of traffic would involve a loss of revenue—probably to a large amount. These are inseparable arguments: it is because the trams aro a pubb'c convenience that tho suspension of traffic would entail a. financial loss. But they are arguments which should have convinced the Council that it would commit a grave mistake if, even on the supposition that it had power to do so, it agreed, to deprive the citizens of Duncdin and of tho suburban boroughs that aro interested of the opportunity of using the tramcars on the holiday. What is the position? The tramway system has been acquired and reconstructed at the espouse of the ratepayers for their convenience and their, profit. A holiday is one of the days, on which the convenience of the service is most completely realised, and on which it is most reasonable to look for a profit upon the operation of the system. The Council cannot, without ignoring the convenience of the great bulk of the community and without disregarding the necessity for .making the tramway service as profitable as possible, seriously contemplate tho suspension of the service on a holiday. It is amazing in the circumstances that the councillors should have been almost unanimous last week in their courageous readiness not merely to risk the consequences of disobeying the provisions of the Order-in-Council, but also to treat the convenience of the public as a matter of subsidiary consequence. We hope, now that a special meeting of the Council is to be held to review the decision of last Wednesday, that a more thorough appreciation of the requirements of the community, as well as of the obligations of the Corporation under the Order-in-Council, will bo shown by its members.