OVERCROWDED CARS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11672, 12 April 1916, Page 2

OVERCROWDED CARS.

THE HACKTHORNE ROAD LINE, THE RATEPAYERS' POINT OF VIEW. A ratepayer in the Hackthorne Road special tramway rating £rea.-yesterday gave a reporter his views oh the subject of the' overcrowding which takes place 011 the Hackthorne Road cars • each fine Sunday afternoon, with es-j peeial reference to mndo.up-j ou the overcrowding in the leading columns of this journal yesterday. The ratepayer .in-question was willing; to admit that the- hoard has a duty | to the general public, but lie; stoutly ' advanced" the opinion that, in the peeu-i liar circumstances surrounding t-iai Hackthorne Road extension t.ho board was justified in being just ta the rate-j payers before it was generous to the general public. The line was paid for | out. of rates to the tune of about £1000! per year, found by the residents of .Spreydon and the Oashmere Hills and the dairy farmers of the Cashmere flats. So far as the dairy farmers were concerned. the rate amounted to -id iu the pound. One farmer paid as much &s ;££o a year, and had never ridden in the tramcar in his life. The dairy farmers had naturally opposed the institution of the special area,' but they were in a minority in the district. Now they were charged about 200 per cent more for maintaining a tramway system they could not use than they were for the maintenance of the road? of their district.. . . - . The ratepayer, added that he lumsolr used the line* about oricc a week, ancj lie reckoned that it cost. him -Is Od every time he did so, in. faro and ratesTho* Sunday. Holiday traffic cost the board more than tho.amount, of revenue derived from it. and the unfortunate ratepayers were paying'for thCSunday, afternoon trips ol : "the city dwellets. A better sen-ice from the point or view of 'the Sunday afternoon passenger •would mean a heavier bill for tho district ratepayers to foot. J! Rom the point of view of the ratepayer it would be a distinct improvement if the board restricted the Sunday sei \ ice to the trips necessary to tflke tho residents to and from church. " The use of trailers on the. Hills inie would be very expensive, as it Avould entail equipping the trailers with brakes and carrying an extra conductor to act as trailer brakesman. Spreydon' borough, which P^d per annum towards the cost of the extension, had access to the line at only one point- of its boundary—Barnngton Street bridge—and v.-as separated from it at all other points by the Hea-t-hcote River. Tho liue was therefore ot very little use to Spreydon. _ . In the. opinion of this ratepayer, the system of special district, taxation for outlving tramway sections was unjust. The Mills tramline was an asset to the whole of the people of -trie cit%., appreciation' of it was proved by ■ thp nSe they made of it on Sundays and holidays*, but the traffic was difficult to handle economically. Rush, traffic was always unprofitable. Either the boajd should incorporate the extension into the general system, and pa\ iti-, deficitout "of general revenue, or it should raise the fares to cover the cost of maintaining the lino, with specially high fares on holidays. To make the district ratepayers pay for the convenience afforded the general public under the present system wa? unjust, but '"to provide a better seoice soieK foi the benefit of city dwellers at the expense of the district ratepayer# would be still more unjust.