TRAMS v. BUSES

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LII, Issue 17133, 8 September 1926, Page 10

TRAMS v. BUSES

(To the Editor of (.he Herald.)

Sir,—Anyboily with a facile pen could write a retulahlc ami laughable book ou (hp blunders of public, bodies in Gisborne ami with the scrapping o! the trams i.o work on, at leasl two host sellers could he conceived, We have ha<l many ably arranged arguments both for mid against this burning question, so I need not elaborate either way, but there if one absurdity (o which 1 inusl call attention, relating to tin} proposed bus routes. It lias been stared that an hourly service will bo run along h'u-.-.eil street, via jfo.x Rtrecrl Nfow the resident* of these two streets, situated in '•' Aristocratic VVhataupoko" regard this proposal as t;othing short of lese-majesto. for the simple reason thai every other householder is the owner of a motor-pro-pelled conveyance, ranging from opulent 7.1 b,orse-powor homes-awuy-i'ront-homo to ancient but active, ami ala« audible Lizzies! fn three eases al least there are residents who own three cars, so unless the owner of the proposed bus is subsidised by Carnegie, or is a philanthropist at large he is doomed to early starvation. He

couldn't even he sure of the patronage of the odd householders because, they. in their cunning, have arranged their outgoings and in comings 1o suit those nf their ear-owning ucighbors. Pedestrians are randy met with in either of the streets mentioned, indeed the footpaths proclaim themselves to he untrodden ways, ami the Council', early cognisant of this fact, have long since ceased to repair them. Another pinprick was the announcement that the fares of said bus would be a penny and twopence! My dear sir, we do not think in coppers hereabouts! Let us keep the trams for those who need and use them most, the poorer section of the community, the people for whom it is the Council's duty to cater, e\ en al a loss. We want trams, and we want them to Bell's store, .Mangapapa, the To H'aparu racecourse and the Waikanae beach. We. want them because of their cheap rates. Motor buses simply can't run penny and twopenny sections and pay, We want ihem because they mean safe (ravelling for children and (ho aged—motor buses have been known to stand on their heads: no self-respecting tram ever eid that; whatever its condition it manages to keep its feel---and we want them because we wan: to prove that, properly run, with al! available material in use and the service extended as first planned, they can be made a olivine,' proposition.—-Yours, etc., 1 " 1 M.