TE ARQHA TRAMWAY.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 168, 4 September 1886, Page 3

TE ARQHA TRAMWAY.

Under the above heading, the late tramway manager, Mr E. Cookson, re cently wrote to the Waikato Times a letter which appeared in that journal on the 19fch ult., (supplemented by a few further remarks oa the 2-ith ult.), in which several statements are made, which, did they not reflect most unfairly on the men who comprised the recent commission of enquiry, we should take no notice of. It's very easy for anyone to write and make a series of statements and then send the letter for insertion to a journal published at a distance, so that it may possibly go before ' the public without contradiction, seeing that the editor could not possibly be expected to know all the ins and outs of what has been going on in connection with the Te Aroha tramway, any more than we could be expected to be an authority on local matters occurring at Hamilton. In Mr Cookson's letter he states that taking "the last five weeks prior to the Commissioners' visit as a guide, in 17 days we carried over the line "403" trucks of quartz, etc." We have obtained, and, as we write, have before us an exact copy of the tramway leturns from the commencement of this year, and certified as correct by the County Cldfrk. It is as follows ! No.- of trUcks

conveyed over the. line, Jnn. 9th to Feb. 6fch, 151 ; Fet>. 6th March 6th,' 254 ; March 6th to April 3rd, 398 ; April 3rd to May Ist, 356 ; May Ist to May 28th, 366 ; May 28th to July Ist (i.e., the fire weeks prior to tho Commissioners' visit), "317." So much for that. Again, Mr Cookson states re the horse grade from the top of Bntlcr's Spur to the foot of May Queen, that " tho Commissioners, as commissioners, did not visit the horse grade referred to * * * the grade in question is the best ballasted portion of the line," etc. We are informed Mr Cookson himself admitted to the Commissioners on the day of their visit that nearly all the sleepers on this portion of the line ■were rotting. Anyhow, it is a "well-known fact the water has been allowed to lodge on this portion of *he line, and that it has been much neglected. Further, at least three out of the five Commissioners were over this portion of the line within a week or so of their report being sent in to the Council, what difference then whether they went on any certain day or not ? Now, respecting the conveyance of firewood over the line. We heard the County Clerk state at the meeting at whicli the Commissioners were appointed | that he had never before (that meeting j when the question was brought up): heard that any firewood had been conveyed over the line. Special trolly s were built for the conveyance of firewood, as it was represented it would probably be a source of considerable revenue ; and yet for nearly two years the County Clerk never had any returns of such, and now the tramway manager states it was charged and returned as haulage (1) except what the staff required for their own use * * * and which was sent down in their own time, etc. Possibly the interpretation of what was considered " their own time" might be a rather broad one, but certain it is that whilst we have no information of the tramway employes staying back at night of proceeding before 8 a.m. to send down firewood, we understand that frequently the line has been occupied for hours during the working day, bringing clown firewood. For onrpart we fail to see what right Mr Cookson had, unless by the permission of the Council, to convey firewood for the tramway employes free of charge at all, men getting their £2 8s and £8 a week, unless the safne valuable concessions were also made to the miners, who have often to stand under a constant drip in the mines, and suffer dynamite fumes for eight hours a day, and whohave, we consider, had much the hard est time of it. Without the miners there would be no work for tramway employes, nevertheless the conveyance of their requisites, even to a bundle of pickhandles has been charged for, by those who have exhibited such zeal in the economical (?) working of the tramway. {