FOR KING AND EMPIRE.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume II, Issue 565, 1 December 1915, Page 6

FOR KING AND EMPIRE.

THE LATE LIEUT -COL. G. H. STEWART.

I Cabled advice has been received lin of the death, at froife dysentery, of Lieut.-Colonel G» H. Stewart, who was recently placed in command of the CanterburyMounted Regiment. He was a brother of Lieutenant Downie Stewart, M P. for Dunedin West, and was a little over 40 years old. He had long been connected with military mattersWhen the Kelso Mounted Rifles were formed, about 15 years ago, he took command, with the rank of captain,, and remained in command of the corps until, on the institution of tlie

Territorial scheme, it was merged iifc the 12th (Otago) Mounted Rifles, and then he took command of that regiment, with the rank of lieutenantcolonel. -He left New Zealand incharge of the Fifth Reinforcement, with the temporary rank of major., i For a time he was commandant of a camp near Egypt. Then he was sent to the firing line, and was oii theiransport Southland when that vessel was torpedoed.- He. was given. . command of the Canterbury Mounted Regiment, with the rank of lieu-tenant-colonel. He was an old boy Of the Otago Boys' High SchooL For about 20 years he was a farther at Crookston, near Tapanui. He was president of the Tuapeka Union, and Was a member of the Tuapeka County Council. He leavesa widow, who was a daughter of Mr J. F. Herbert, of Kelso, but no children.

with him an official pass for the trams, or he is one of those who, according to the tramway manager's, recent report; is being carried for less than cost price. 0£ course, to such the present management is most satisfactory. The very people who can afford to pay—many of thoseusingthe Sumner, New Brighton, and Papanui lines—are, I contend, getting either a better or a cheaper service than they are entitled to, at the (expense of jtie rest of the system. I must apologise' for my mistake about the time-table, but younger eyes than mine might have been misled, seeing that patf of No. 6 time-table is at one end of the case, and, with little sense, the other part has been placed at the other end, with other tables between. The tramway manager's superficial and curt statement, "that Papanui gets more cars than St. Albans Park because it *has more traffic," only confirms my former contention, that we need management with a greater, sense of justice, and more backbone to jdo the right thing 'withbiit fear oir favour. If the manager is prepared to maintain. that the- Papanui line gets no more than it is entitled to,, he is about the only officer of the board who would make such a declaration. Certainly, a nine-minute service for Papanui, and a 24-minut& service for St. Albans Park do not fairly represent the needs and fights of the two districts. •

In the report for the month ending September 5, I read that the Papanui, line carried 197,183 passengers, while Edgeware-Cashmere line carried 2i9,508, an excess in favour of the latter ■of over 22,000.' The > earning power of the two lines was —Papanui £7388, Edgeware-Cash-mere £8042. And for this result Papanui lmd 2676 car trips, against 1816 trips for Edgeware-Cashmere,. or an excess of 860 trips for £654 less receipts. Though there may be factors that these figures do not include, the return at least shqws. that a big revenue is obtained from a line part of which is being unjustly served. If the manager and board had seen, as I have time and again, the cars unload at Edgeware Road, and f a number of tired men and women,, often with children and parcels, make their way northward along th& extension and beyond Warrington Street, they would, I think, make an effort to give St. Albans Park a regular service.—l am, etc., CITIZEN. November 29.