The Christchurch Star. PUBLISHED BY New Zealand Newspapers Ltd. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1935. TRAM POLICY.
r T''HOUGH PROCLAIMING at all times that it is a public concern and is entitled to a greater of public support, the Christchurch Tramway Board too often rushes into a policy that alienates the sympathy of citizens. How it hopes to build up increased revenue under such circumstances passes comprehension. One instance is afforded by the one-man trams. As was pointed out at a meeting in Riccarton last evening, these trams are not only inconvenient, particularly at rush hours, but, for night running, constitute an element of danger because passengers may have to alight on the roadway in the path of motor traffic. Other districts have made similar protests, but the Tramway Board runs true to form by ignoring them. An unsightly Y loop, despite the strong objections of residents, is to be constructed at the corner of Burnside and Clyde Roads in Fendalton. It will interfere with traffic at a busy corner, at a point where school children are almost continually crossing and re-crossing; and it would not be necessary at all but for the one-man tram service that is to be instituted—once again in opposition to the wishes of residents. If'a privately-owned transport company flouted its customers in this fashion, the Official Assignee would quickly be called on to say the last word.
AIRSHIP DISASTERS. THE LOSS of the Macon demonstrates once again the extreme vulnerability of dirigibles in a storm. This airship was built on the lines to the ill-fated Akron, which was also lost in a storm, but one of exceptional severity. And the unusual conditions of that disaster were considered by the United States navy when it remained favourable to airship construction. The British RlOl, lost in 1930, -was also too weak to resist very bad weather. It is more than likely now that, after a series of three disasters in three years—the Akron, J 3, and the Macon —America will follow Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan and decide to discard airship service. Germany is the only country that has had any real success with airships, but the others have found experimentation too costly in human lives. POWER OF THE PURSE. IN SETTING OUT its case for a National Board of Education, the executive committee of the New Zealand Educational Institute says: When one considers the unabashed absolution of the financial and other provisions for the control of the Training Colleges, or the less patent but none the less effective control of the University Colleges through the estimates —it is the power of the purse that is everywhere paramount. This is the means by which the New Zealand educational authorities have been reduced to a condition of virtual impotence. The creation of a National Board of Education was one of the recommendations made by the National Expenditure Commission, but the executive committee of the Educational Institute goes a step further in suggesting that the board should comprise the following six members: (1) The Minister of Education as chairman, (2) nominee of the district education boards, (3) nominee of the teaching profession, (4) nominee of the University Senate, (5) nominee of the Gover-nor-General-in-C,ouncil (to be a recognised educationist), and (6) the permanent head of the Department. In this way it hopes to “ de-politi-calise ” the system. It is obvious enough, of course, that waste and extravagance exist under the present conditions, though, indeed, the teachers’ constant complaint is not so much against the Waste as against the tight-fistedness of the Department. And it w’ould be almost too much for the public to expect that a lead in economy should suddenly come from a National Board of Education if the personnel exhibits much of that trend towards experimentalism which frequently carries the academic mind above considerations of cost and payment.
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Bibliographic details
Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20539, 14 February 1935, Page 8
Word Count
638The Christchurch Star. PUBLISHED BY New Zealand Newspapers Ltd. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1935. TRAM POLICY. Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20539, 14 February 1935, Page 8
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