TRAFFIC CONGESTION.

Waikato Times, Volume 106, Issue 17268, 14 November 1929, Page 9

TRAFFIC CONGESTION.

(To the Editor.) Sir, —According to a report in your Issue of Monday last, His Worship the Mayor Indulged in some flights of imagination when presenting to railway officers what I suppose is the council’s "latest” in the direction of dealing with what is termed the traitlc problem in Hamilton. As instances, he said: —1. The matter had been public for some time. The Waikato Times had endorsed the scheme, and he felt it would carry the approval of the business people.” You, sir, will know to what extent the Waikato Times has

considered this particular scheme, but as far as the public is concerned th In your columns an item headed Ham iUo'n Streets;’ which ed inter aha that “ a brief reference in the repon o the General Purposes Committee sitolUed to the Hamilton Borough Council last night gave an 10 " that the question of new traffic out e has been under discussion- The item then goes on to say that various projects have been suggested for relieving Victoria Street of a part of its congested traffic, and refers to several of them. There appears also the follow ing “A suggestion has been made in the* Wailcato Times that the railway through the town might bo deviated and a new railway bridge built. We understand this possibility is being considered.” The item concludes bj stating that a committee “was appointed to go to Wellington and wait on the Minister to advance the scheme ; but no indication is given as to what scheme, although the same item records that the council, on the recommendation of the General Purposes Committee, resolved to ‘ ask the Minister of Railways if his departmental officers w'ould investigate schemes. Note that tho plural is here used- The . committee acordingly made the trip (by the way this trip involved a waste of probably £3O to £4O in addition to time to obtain a result that a letter or two would have obtained), and your report of the trip states, inter alia, that "a suggestion was made by Mr Fow that the raliw'ay line should be moved either to the north or the south of the towm,” but no indication is given | whether the council or the public of Hamilton knew anything of such a proposal, and certainly nothing to indicate that the public had considered the merits and demerits of the scheme placed before railway officers on Momday. , , , 2. “He had heard no voice, raised against the scheme-” How on earth could he have expected to, in view of the publicity (?) given to the schemeThe report of the conference on Mcnday .show's that the railway officers concerned were considerably surprised to hear that the public of Hamilton approved of the scheme placed before these officers. I do not know what they will think when they llnd that at present this apprvoal existed in the imagination only of His Worship, in view of the fact that the scheme has been sprung on the public by way of a report in Monday’s issue of the Waikato Times. Possibly my turn to be surprised may come when it is found that the public of Hamilton will stand for such a scheme, which no doubt has some good as wdll as bad points, but which will require some grave consideration on the part of everyone concerned. At present the disadvantages appear to me to heavily outweigh the advantages attached to the scheme.—l am, etc., B- J. DAVEY. Hamilton, Nov. 13.