CATHEDRAL SQUARE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12061, 17 July 1917, Page 4

CATHEDRAL SQUARE.

TRAMWAY BOARD'S PLANS.

AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION'S PROTEST DISCUSSED.

At yesterday's meeting of the Christchurch Tramway Board a, communication from the Canterbury Automobile Association was read, briefly registering the association's protest against the board's proposal to lay a tram line within a few feet of tho footpath in front of the Cathedral. The association protested on tho grounds that the change would make safe traffic on the thoroughfare concerned more difficult than ever. The chairman (Mr C. M. Gray) moved that the letter should be received. Mr A. S. Taylor said that he believed that there was considerable misunderstanding regarding the position tha board had taken up in this matter. The facts were that an expenditure of about £SOOO was forced upon the board, as worn-out tracks had to be replaced. Tho work had nothing whatever to do with the beautification of Cathedral Square. The speaker expressed the ! hope that after the war the board would take up seriously the question of the beautification of Cathedral Square, rlo did not want the public to think that the board disclaimed all responsibility in the matter. He was sure the citizens would not begrudge the expenditure. Mr H. Pearco said the board could not bo .expected to spend £12,000 or £13,000 on beautifying Cathedral Square. That was not its function. Mr G. T. Booth, replying to an interjection by Mr Staples, to the effect that the Beautifying Association consisted of only a dozen parson*, said that if there wore only a dozen they were deserving of the gratitude of all citizens. His personal opinion was •hat in converting Cathedral Square into a tramway station the board had shown disregard for the feelings of citizens, ft was to some extent a desecration of what was intended as a religion.-; centre of the city. The board and the citizens of Christchurch should aim at the ultimate removal of all tramway traffic from Cathedral Square. He had' not .supported the Beautifying Association's plan, because he feared it might tend to perpetuate the presenti system. ' Mr S. A. Staples paid he yielded _to no man' in his resixvfc and admiration of the work of the Beautifying Association, but he objected to tn«- association asking the. board rto spend £12,000 or .£13.0130 on altering the layout in Cathedral Square. In regard to tho God ley statu", which the association declared was being obscured, if the citizens of Christchurch had attached such tremendous importance to the statue they would have iuit it in a square of its own—Godley Square. As it was, there was not a street or square in the city named after John Robert Godlev. Mr D. Sykes said that the Cathedral should never have been built on its present site. Replying to an interjection by the chairman, he said that it would be more .sensible to shift the Cathedral than to shift the tram lines out. of Cathedral Square. Mr J. A. Flesher spoke in support of the board's proposal, which, he said, would make for greater traffic safety in Cathedral Square. The first set of tramway rails the board laid in Cathedral Square was on the western side of the Godley statue, but rails had to be laid on the eastern side aa a matter of public convenience. In the days ahead he believed the city would hare to curtail rather than increase its expenditure on beautifying. The letter was then "received."