FOUR MILES OR SEVEN?

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3339, 4 October 1911, Page 9

FOUR MILES OR SEVEN?

THE MUNICIPAL TRAMWAY. COUNCIL DISCUSSES THE QUESTION DECIDED ON MAYOR’S CASTING VOTEThe question as to whether the Borough Council should apply for an Order-in-Council for laying tour miles or seven miles of tramway track led to a rather lengthy discussion at the Borough Council meeting last, evening. Or. Dartorr moved that the resolution to proceed with the Order-in-Gourrcil for seven miles of tramway be rescinded, and that the Council apply for an Order-in-Council for four miles. Cr. Barton said that apart from the cost, it was a question of expediency with the Council, and that was whv he moved his motion that they apply for an Order-in-Council for the four miles, of track. The four miles would be from Gisborne to the Park, and included the lines to. the wharf and to the . railway station. These four miles would be the best lines. There was no difficulty in getting such an Order-in-Council. If they applied for seven miles of track there would be difficulties in the way, such as the strengthening of the bridges, etc. They would have to he faced and decided. His motion was not to put down seven miles, but that they should! apply for an Order-in-Council for four miles. He held and always held that they bad not sufficient money to construct seven miles, and in* his opinion it would not pay to put down the seven miles, but he would 1 say that four milesr was more likely to pay. They could get'the Order, 'and in the mean-time-they Could make preparations for surmounting the difficulties of getting the line to Kaiti and Whata-uppko. They -expected the cars shortly, and no steps had been taken to go on with the line because they had not got the in-Council-Cr. Sawyer seconded the motion. Cr. Smith said that if the motion was going to help matters and would allow the Council to go ahead with the trams he was quite prepared to support it. Some of the material! for the construction of the liner had been received, and the balance was coming forward' shortly. Noi doubt the tramway had got to godown, and had got to be constructed as the ratepayers had! voted for it. Of course the Order-in-Council should have been applied for before this. He felt h© was not prepared to see the Council waiting for reports on the bridges. The Order-in-Council should have been applied for, and it would have been for the Engineer-in Chief to object. They were in the position of having all the material lying idle on their hands, and if this would assist them he wfould quite agree to it. This was not an attempt to. stop the seven miles being constructed. The four miles would he good! paying lines no doubt, but he thought the Kaiti and Whataupoko lines, with their 3d fares , 'WpGhl pay better. What he understood that they wanted' to get ahead' with-'the work. They wanted tin get Gladstone Road in order, and the sooner they got the Order-in-Council and got rid .of some of the beastly lumps on this rpac! the better. Cr- Collins said that he would like to point cut one or two things to the Council regarding this matter. Cr. Barton had moved with regard' to obtaining an Order-in-Council for four miles, although it was originally intended 1 to lay seven miles. The reasons for doing so was expediency—the. Council could get on with the line —and that this line from Gisborne to the Park would be on© the best paying lines. There was a great deal in that argument. If it was a question of expediency he would side with Cr. Barton, but they wanted to regard the matter from a different standpoint. This raised a big question which had been debated and voted on at the Council table before. What did this mean? He would asik them to realise what they were going to vote for—inequality in the. expenditure of the loan. It was all very well to cover up the argument by telling the ratepayers that they were going to construct seven miles later on, but they they had to go to the ratepayers for another loan, and not for seven miles but. for four miles, in their entirety. It meant they were raising another loan for constructing for miles in the borough. They were going to ask ratepayers in the outlying districts to subscribe towards a loan under which they would have no material advantage whatever, although' they would he rated for it. That was the thin end l of the wedge. It had been stated by every Councillor that he would never agree in any circumstances tie any part or parcel of work that would lead to inequality of the expenditure of the loan, Cr.. Barton had gone further and said that if the ratepayers of this town 'did not agree “We have our big gun, th© sewerage.” If they asked the ratepayers to vote money for the four miles of tramway in the borough combined with other loan proposals, and the suburban residents realised that that item means no present advantage for present ex-penditure,-they would throw out the whole loan. ’ It was necessary they should construct theHramway, hut they wercrtelling the .ratepayers they wanted, the Order- for expediency and were covering it up with a coating of sugar that they intended to. complete the tramway at a later period. He did not think anv ordinary ratepayer could he led to believe it. ’He did not care how they juggled with figures or what financial geniuses sat at the Council table, they could not say that the tramways would he a remunerative and producive scheme for some years to come. It was a work that had‘been agreed was premature. Cr. Barton himself opposed it. Or.' Barton: I always advocated trams. Cr. Cbllins said that everyone at the table thought the trams were crude and premature. The argument was that if they voted for the tramways they would create a suburban population and open up reticulation with water and electric light. They would also encourage the aggregation of business premises. They were told that the profits would he obtained indirectly if not directly through the trains. They were driven to vote for the .seven miles, as there would be less inequality of expenditure of the loan. He wanted to- know if there was any man sane enough to vote for a loan where a suburban population would not enter into the direct benefits. Of course, it would 1 be wiser < for expediency sake to vote for four miles, but let it be definitely known. He then wanted to know, how they would justify their action in depriving suburban residents "'of what they were entitled to. They would run the risk of every loan that was tacked on _ to the tramway loan being rejected if they were not careful. Cr. Brown said he would vote for Or. Barton’s motion for the reason that it was necessary to undertake the per-

manent improvement of the streets, and i© tramway works should be done at the same time. The Council was pledged to go on with the work as far as the funds permitted. Cr. Bright said that his opinion was that the trains would not pay for many years to come. The voting paper for the loan showed that £25,000 had been set aside for seven miles of trams. The proposals should have been put singly, and lie would never agree to proposals being grouped as they had been in/the present loan. They should go, to the ratepayers and tell them exactly what amount of money was required to complete the seven miles. The Mayor said the solicitors were waiting for information to prepare the Order-in-Council. ** He agreed, with Cr. Collins, blit also agreed with Cr. D_arton’s plea for expediency in proceeding with the tou> miles. The proposal to go in for seven miles was only adopted when the., late .Mayor (Mr W. D. Lysliar) had. ordered the rails for seven miles instead of four, At first he had only been, in favor of going in for four miles, but had voted for the -seven miles when the whole matter had been threshed out before the Council. He was against the original proposal to proceed with the seven miles being, rescinded until after they had received Mr Metcalfe’s report. Cr. Wildish said lie would like more information on the subject before agreeing to rescinding the; resolution. Cr. Wade, also expressed himself as against rescinding of the original resolution. Cr. Barton, m replying, said he was sorry that Councillors had allowed themselves to be side-tracked by Cr. Collins. The Council had to go on with the seven miles, as much as they had to go on with the sewerage. They had to make a start, and his only point was that they had to get on with the trams. The Council was not in a position to put the whole of the roads of the borough in order for the trams. They were very little short of money with which to ’ complete the seven miles. Even if they were short, they would have to go-to the ratepayers for more money. If Councillors did not go for the four miles, they simply meant to hold the trams up.. If the Order-in-Oouncil for the four miles was obtained, all that would be necessary to do would be to apply for an extension to complete the other three miles. If they went on with the four miles they could! put the roads round about the trams in order. All the special parts were to band, and they had two cars. . Cr. Bright pointed out that they had only £SOOO left, and against this was a em.rge of £l-400 for cars. Proceeding, Cr. Barton said the point they had to decide was there, were no difficulties in the way of obtaining the Order-in-Council for .the four miles, While there were difficulties in the way of going for the whole seven miles. Cri Barton’s motion to rescind; the resolution was then put, Cr. Barton, Sawyer, Wade, Smith, and Brown voting for, and the Mayor, and Os. Bright. Collins, Wildish, and Webb against. The Mayor gave his casting vote against the motion, which was therefore defeated. TRAMS Tp.jGO, DOWN GREY STREET C'r: Browjf moved in. accordance with notice, to rescind the resolution re rttnnig:, trams down Peel Street, with- the view. of substituting Grey street. Cr. Sawyer seconded the motion, stating that the advantage of running the trams, to the beach made the Grey street route much preferable. The Mayor also supported' the substituting of Gi'ey Street. Cr. Bright said he would like to know whether the rescinding of the resolution meant immediately proceeding with the tramways. He hoped Crs. would await Mr Metcalfe’s report before going on with the tramway scheme. There was no hope of the tramways paying for many years to come. He had made an estimate, and had come to the conclusion that it would cost £8 a day to run the trams. " The Mayor stated that the rescinding of the resolution did not mean that the tramway scheme would be proceeded with immediately. Cr, Bright said lie was glad to hear it. Cr. Collins said they could- not hope to- get the Order-in-Council passed until the resolution was rescinded. Cr. Brown’s motion substituting Grey. Street for’Peel Street was then put and carried.