THE TRAMWAYS.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 144850, 30 November 1915, Page 3

THE TRAMWAYS.

SUNDAY SERVICE TO BE ' , ADOPTED. A meeting of the Tramways Committee of the New Plymouth Borough Council was held at the Town Hall on Monday evening, the Mayor (Mr. C. H. Burgess) presiding. There were also present; Councillors L. M. Monteath, J. S. S. Medley, J. W. Hayden, A. H. Johnstone, W. A. Collis, W. F. Short, F. J. Hill, A. E. Sykes, J. T. Mannix, A. E. Watkins, F. E. Wilson, S. J. Smith.

As requested by the Tramways Committee, the tramways engineer, Mr. R. 11. Bartley reported on the probability of a Sunday tram service paying. In view of the fact that he had already submitted to the committee a suggested Sunday time-table, it would bo well to preface the report with an explanation of Us entailment and the cost of putting it into operation. As to whether a Sunday service was going to pay or not depended mainly upon two factors. These were the number of passengers carried by the cars and the frequence of the service. In the time-table submitted, the car miles allowed for were 206 approximately, or -16 trips between Fitzroy and the Breakwater and the Breakwater and Fitzroy. The cost of running the service was £l7 9s 6d, al-low:ir-r wages at time and a half. It would be gathered from the figures that the ears must carry no less than 1q.2 passi ngeis pm cat mile if the service is to pay. In his opinion it could not lie expected to do so. There was,-how-ever, another way to consider this service, and this was to neglect the capital or standing charges, which would go on whether the service was run or not* By so doing the service would then have to meet only working expenses, and perhaps a small amount of the capital charges could be realised. This, in his opinion, might possibly be achieved m time, and when the system wps firmly established. The summer months would, of course, be the best, as weather conditions play a very important part with the Sunday travellers, and in winter time it might be well to reduce the service. He knew of only one town in New Zealand where a Sunday service was not run, despite the fact that Sunday was generally looked upon as a bad day froni a financial standpoint. Councillor Watkins expressed the opinion that the council should cater for the public, and proposed that a Sunday service he adonted. Councillor Smith seconded the motion, and was of opinion that the puohc would mako move use of the tramp oil a Sunday than on any other day in the In reply to Councillor Collis, Mr. Bartley said the cost of a Sunday seij vice would be very considerably, reduced if the trams did not start running until 12 o’clock and continued hourly after that. The cost would bo about £2 10s if they omitted the capital and standing charges. , , Councillor thought this would be about all they would earn. If it would entail a loss to run the trams on a Sunday the council should so arrange its time-table to reduce that loss to a minimum. , ~ A discussion then . arose as to the time-table that should, be adopted, but it was agreed to decide, in, the first place, whether a Sunday service should he run or otherwise. ■ . 1 Councillor Watkins’ motion that a Sunday service bo adopted was then I submitted to the vote and earned. Discussing the question of a Sunday ; time-table, Councillor Collis suggested I that the trams make ono trip about noon, ono car leaving town for Fitzroy i and a second running to the Breakwater ; that from 2 p.m. until 7 p.m. I there he an hourly service, resumed again at 5.30 p.m. to 9.30 p.m. - cI cording to the engineer s report he felt there would he a loss of £5 every SunI day if the ordinary service was adopted' and he again contended that it was the duty of the council to reduce that loss wherever possible. He moved that it be a recommendation to the Time-table Committee to draw up a time-tablo whereby the trams would commence running at noon on Sundays. Councillor Short seconded the motion. Councillor Watkins said he was not m favour of the motion,- and ho moved as an amendment that the time-tome as recommended by the engineer be given effect to, more especially m regard to the morning service find the twenty minutes’ service in the aftern°Couno;Uor Hayden seconded the ftn OouiSor Monteath said the trams should be run to suit the convenience of the public as a whole- and the morning service seemed to him to offer an advantage to people living the . urbs, wherebv they could get to church on a Sunday morning. Ho knew a number of such people who would trams on a Sunday morning, and were looking forward to doing so. Personally. he hoped to sec the trams running on a Sunday morning, believing it would be a distinct convenience to "’c’ouSo'r Wilson thought they■might well omit the morning service and s*;»rt the trams running early in the afternoon, He felt satisfied that Sunday morning trams were neither wanted by the majority of the people nor would they be patronised by a large number. Wliatever time-table was decided upon, however, bo expressed the hope that once the trams started %y would not have a disjointed service. He did not favour the proposal of stopping the trams during the church services. When they started running the trams, he hoped it would be a connected smte. Councillor Medley sa,d * hat ,f tb . B council found it was a losing -proposition to run the continued service, it could be very easily modified. Personally he felt that the Sunday morning trams would pay if the trams were going to pay at all. . Councillor Monnix was in favour of the time-table of the engineer being observed for the present at any rate. After a few mouths’ trial they would then be in a portion to judge as to whether the Sunday service would pay or otherwise. . . The Mayor was in favour of giving the morning service a trial. ' ’ Councillor Watkins’ amendment that it be a recommendation to tho Timetable Committee to run the trams morning and afternoon on Sundays was then put to the meeting and carried. METALLING THE TRAM ROUTE. The borough engineer reported that in company with Foreman M’Kay he had gone over the whole length of the tram route and measured up the work that yet remained to bo done to complete same. They estimated that from date it would taka 42 working days to finish the formation and metalling. They further estimated that At would.

■take 90 days to complete the tarring and sanding of the whole length of the roadway with two coats cf soltac. This estimate was subject to one day’s extension for each day lost through wet weather or public holidays, when no work could bo done, or through freshes in the river making it impossible to obtain metal, and was based on the present amount of labour they had engaged.