In Committee of the Legislative Council the Tramways Bill the
two amendments in red ink, which had been suggested by the Director of Public Works were adopted, as he pointed out that the expression "a double line of tramway" was used in clause 5 of the Bill, and that it was desirable that the language of the Bill should, so far as practicable, be uniform
507 throughout.
The alteration effected by these two recommendations—
Recommendations 4 and 5. tions so that the words which occur in the new subsection (4), as set out in recommendation 5, have been transferred from the end of subsection (2) of clause 19 into a separate subsection. The reason for the alteration was that it was usual and desirable to bring into stronger prominence the fact that all alterations made under section 19 were to be made under the "superintendence of
etc. such Department as...,
Recommendation 5.
This follows necessarily from recommendation 4 and
It was pointed out that, in cases of grave national emergency, it might be imperatively necessary to commandeer the Tramway for defensive purposes without giving "three clear days notice". Accordingly the words "when practicable" were added at the end of clause 42,
Recommendations 10 and 12. These two recommendations as is pointed out by the Standing Law Committee in the last 10 lines of their Report were intended to stand or fall together.
The Law Committee, which included the two Chinese Members of the Council and comprised four Unofficial Members of Council, were unanimously of opinion that a maximum fare of 3 cents for the single journey was too high and that it was necessary with a view to relieve the congested and insanitary condition of the City of Victoria and to induce working men to live outside the City, to reduce the above maximum fare of 3 cents for the single journey, to 2 cents for the single journey and 3 cents for the return journey for the classes mentioned in clause 49, namely, artisans, mechanics, and day labourers, if travelling on the Tramway earlier than 7:15 A.M. or later than 5:30 P.M.
The Law Committee also considered that the fixing of the maximum number of cars at two each way morning and evening, as was done by the original clause 19 of the Bill, would have the effect of altogether nullifying the main object of the Tramways Concession, namely, the spreading out of the large working population of this Colony.
As showing how inadequate the original number of maximum cars proposed, namely two, would be for the achievement of the above object, it may be mentioned that it is estimated that each car will hold only 49 to 50 persons.
Mr. Shewan of Messrs. Shewan, Tomes and Company the representative of the Tramway Syndicate, protested to the Law Committee,
before