INVERCARGILL TRAMWAYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2881, 2 June 1909, Page 15

INVERCARGILL TRAMWAYS.

SURRENDER OF RIGHTS. OFFER BY SIR J. G. WARD. (Fkom Our Own Correspondent.) INERCARGILL, May 20. For some time (somewhere about two years) Invercargill has been without trainj ways. The old horse cars were owned ■ by Sir Joseph Ward and others, and the j rights were renewed on the understanding > that an up-to-date system would be in- | stalled. The old trams were stopped, the , lines were taken up, and nothing more concrete than talk and correspondence has I been done since. Sir J. G. Ward has i been granted extensions of time, I and the feeling has grown that the council ought to force matters to a head. At to-night's meeting of the Town Council a letter was received from Sir J. G. Ward in which he stated, inter alia :—: — " The members of your council will,, as business men. no doubt understand that my object in acquiring the tramway concessions in Inveicargill and the buburban boroughs was not altogether an unselfish one. The losses in connection with the Invercargill tramways, extending over 17 | years, exceeded £6000. I hoped by the [ formation of a strong company to have | laid in Invercargill -and suburbs a new and up-to-date system of trams, and by this means I further hoped to letrieve to ' some extent my own losses and at the same time to do what appeared to me to be one. of the best things that could be done for the advancement of the town. In taking the necessary steps to carry out the project maiiy difficulties ha\e had to be overcome and obstacles removed. Delay has consequently been inevitable ... I intended, when in Invercargill on my last visit, to discuss ..he matter further with your council, but on arrival in 3 r our city I soon ascertained the existence of a strong and growing public feeling against the alienation of the tramway rights and in favour of the municipalisation of the tramways. With this feeling I am, on principle, wholly in accord. . . . Having ascertained, as I have said, that public opinion was strongly in favour of municipal tiamways, I decided, as far as I was personally concerned, and notwithstanding the great prospective value of those rights to me, to stand aside. It was necessary, however, before writing the council that I should return here (to Wellington) for the purpose of inducing those whb have been associated with me to cancel our arrangements and permit me to agree to the council's proposals. This has been done, and I am now, for the reasons I have mentioned, prepared to hand over the whole of the rights held by me in connection with the construction of the tramways in the Borough of Invercargill and suburban boroughs, it being understood that all costs and other expenses incurred by me in connection with those rights are to be refunded. These exceed £1500 by a considerable sum, but I am prepared, in the circumstances, to accept £1500." The council, after a short discussion, referred the matter to the Special Tramway Committee set .up at the last mccV WLSJf