The Star. SATURDAY, JUNE 7, 1902. THE TRAMWAY CONFERENCE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7422, 7 June 1902, Page 4

The Star. SATURDAY, JUNE 7, 1902. THE TRAMWAY CONFERENCE.

The Tramway Conference, owing in a. great measure to the tactful handling of the new skipper, seems to have developed a feverish haste to be good. Two intensely piactical meetings have followed 1 each: other in quick succession, and trams which, were "in the air" a fevr weeks ago are- now almost beginning to materialise. At last 2tight's meeting of the Conference the report >ffyhe committee which had been appointed to suggest the lines upon which a Bill sb»nld be drafted constituting! a Christchurob Tramway District was brought up atnd considered. The committee submitted • thoroughly practical report, "the various clauses of which were adopted' almost without amendment, and with a'congriatulatory unanimity t&at was almost unctuous. The one exception, was the clause providingi i that members of the Board should be paid, j This is but a little thing in a big scheme, j yet it proved a veritable fly in the general! j ointment, and the thunders of controversy raged around the clause till the Chairman | onde more oame to the rescue by giving his casting vote in favour of its retention. ! T&e positiom of the malcontents on this point is a, difficult one to tmderstand. The only appreciable argument used against the payment was that th& membesrs of *he Harbour Boards are not paid. This, of pourse, is good, sound logic, but it might be asgned with equal force on the other (Bide that ballet girls are paid. At one of the many" congratulatory moments of the meeting a member glowingly expressed the opinion that tie ratepayers would see that only the best men were elected to the Board, but his confident - admiration! was changed to horror when he learned that ib was proposed to pay the members of the Board the munificent remuneration of £1 Is per sitting. He conjured up at once a. vision of hundreds of candidates rushing for the spoil, a horrid vista of corruption md log-rolling, and the establishment of « little tin tramway Tammany right in our very midst. Th is was a personal insult either to the ratepaj'ers whom; he had just been praising or to his own intelligence, but itreflects something of the nature of the gratuitous opposition to a proposal the principle of which has long been recognised is a proper one in a progrestiva ownmu-nity. For the rest, the Conference passed what appears to be an eminently practical drait for the proposed Bill. Of course, it might have done this, long ago/ for apparently it has simply been chasing its own tail playfully round in a circle, inasmuch ,as the scheme adopted is the same in its salient features as that suggested by the Mayor of St Albans months ago. v But that aggresr cive individual at that time sat in the house of the scorneis. Last night he simulated the diplomatic action of Brer Fox and "lay low," content to simply "sorter chuckle in his stummuck " as clause by clause of his original suggestions was en? thusiastically adopted by his eratwihile opponents. The Conference is now a happy family, hatdhetless and axeless, andi witih all its little dissensions buried. It has become essentially practical, and has at last prompted one firm and decisive step towards the desired goal. In the meantime, pending the submission, of the Bill to Parliament, the special gub-opmimittee is empowered to enquire into the various- systems of traction and other matters pertaining to the tramways, to call public meetings, and generally to exerciae an educative influence iipon the public, prior to the ratepayers Being called upon- to express an, ultimate opinion on th© system and the methods to he adapted. If the committee cam- keep Mr Hansen judiciously suppressed it should be able to do good work in the directions indicated, and save valuable time when the pinch comes.