NAPIER EXTENSION

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Volume 58, Issue 69, 23 April 1929, Page 6

NAPIER EXTENSION

Upon its commg inlo ofiiee the new Xapier City Couneil will have to consider a project. which, it is to he hoped, will be treated sympathetically. This is a suggestion to ext-end the Napier tramway systeni in such a liianner that it will serve Greennieadows and Taradale. Napier needs land for expansion, and, as L he Mayor explained in bringing fbnvard Ihe proposal, if it has lo wait for swainj) reelamation, it will have to wait a long time. As mallers stand at present details ao.comjianving tlie suggestion are not finalised. The ]\fayor, j\Ir J. Vigor Brown, in commending the scheme to the incoming couneil, spoke of a diversion towards Napier South ncar Tliackerav street and then on lo Taradale. It will be for the new couneil, if it approves the scheme — as it is hoped will be the case — to decide definitely upon all details and to make plain the financial aspect of: the situation. As to this, as ihe Mayor poinied out, the trarmvays department has in re-serv-e ihe sum of £18,700, unexpended moneys in oonnection with a loan agreed to some years ngo for tramways extension, and this rcnders the project more practicable than would otherwise be the case. kiore than this it would be futile to suggest until the incoming couneil has fullv considered the position and given a verdict upon it. It may be pointed out, however, oven at this inchoate stag-e, that the proposal if it matures, involves co-operat.ion and comhination between Napier on the one hand and Taradale and Greenmeadows 011 tlie other. As, ohviously, if the project materialises, both the beautiful and promising township of Taradale, with its many attractions, and Napier will mutually henefit, we liave no doubt that sueh co-opera-tion and comhination will be readily ■ obtainable if'gone about energetically and in the right spirit. The position from the financial aspect is cascd by the fact that the sum of money mentioned above is already in hand, and from that aspect there doos not appear to be any real difficulty in sight. kluch depcnds upon tlie attitude adopted by tlie new Napier City Couneil wlien it comes into being shortly, and it cannot be doubted that if its attitude is sympathetic and practical the co-operation of Taradale will be assured. Attractive as that portion of the distriet is it would be vendered all the more so by cheap and easv means of communication with Napier. There is almost unlimited scope for increased settlemeht in the Taradale area. Its land is good and high, offering great inducement to resid-ential extension, and that this would follow cheap and easv means of communication is quite certain. Napier, cramped for room, would tend to spread towards Taradale, which in the next ten years might hope to double its r-esi-dential boundaries. A tramway to Taradale would bring all its desirable features as a residential distriet within oasy reaeh of townspeople and introduce favourable conditions making for the development of both districts, A factor for the City Couneil to eonsidel- is the present willingness of the Naihvay l)epartment to facilitate the crossing of the railway line by the tramway. The couneil has already had Ihe department 's proposals to cqusider, but in vicw of the fact that an eleetion is shortly to take place it has very properly left the final verdict to the incoming body. The cost of all the complets crossing arrangements suggested by the department is less than a thousand pounds, which would still leave nearly £18,000 of the loan moneys in reserve to go towards the cost of the general scheme. The Mayor is to be congratulated upon bringing the proposal forward, and for commending it to the sympathetic considevation of tlie incoming couneil. Nothing is lacking to bring the scheme to a successful conclusion but co-oporation betwcen Taradale and Napier, and we presume nobody tbinks that to bring about such co-operation involves any great difficulty. As a matter of fact manv far-seeing residents of Taradale have been for some time quietly moving in the direction of facilitating any reasonable sclieme for connceting Taradale and Greenmeadows with Napier by a tramway. It is for tbe incorning City Couneil to take all the cireumstances into consideration, and to do its best to bring about a workable understanding. This would applv even if there were no funds in hand for a commencement of the work, but with roughly £18,000 in hand after meeting tbe demands of Ihe Bailway Department the situation shapes itself much more definitelv.