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Legrelative Council, 8th February, 1882
The Hongkong Telegraph
HONGKONG, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1882.
THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.
A meeting of the Legislative Council was held yesterday afternoon. There were present ----
His EXCELLENCY the GOVERNOR. Hon. F. SNOWDEN, Acting Chief Justice. Hon. M. S. TONNOCHY, Acting Colonial Secre-
tary.
Hon, E. L. O'MALLEY, Attorney-General. Hon, W. M. DEANE, Acting Colonial Trea-
surer.
Hon. P. RYRIE.
Hon. NG CHOY.
Hon. F. BULKELEY JOHNSON.
Hon. E. R. BELILJOS.
MINUTES.
The minutes of the last meeting were read and, after a verbal alteration had been made, were confirmed.
THE TRAMWAYS BILL. The Council now went into Committee on the Tramways BUL
Hon. P. RYRIE requested leave to retire, which was granted.
On clause 4, the COLONIAL SECRETARY moved that instead of the word "double" the word "single" be substituted. He said the opinion of the surveyor-General was deserving of great at tention, and he had already stated his opinion that with the proposed width of the cars it would be dangerous to allow a double line in any part of Queen's-road, and from his own observation, and he had been along Queen's-road several times sinces the Bill was considered in select Committee he did not think there was any part of the road that would be safe if two lines were allowed. If improvements hereafter took place in certain parts of it and the road was widened, the Go- vernment might see their way to allow double line to be founed, but at present he would move as an amendment that as a tenta- tive measure there should be a single line right through, but a proviso might be put in at the end of the Ordinance that at any time, if the Go- vernor in Council thought fit, at any part of the road where it could be done with safety, a double line might be laid. He thought that for the first few months the Company might very well go on without a double line. If they found it was project that commanded the public confidence and was likely to become popular, people would be inclined to put up with a little inconvenience for a great good.
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Hon. F. B. JOHNSON said he would remind the hon. member that this question was very thoroughly considered by the select Committee, who reported in favour of a double line, and in clause 4 there was a provision that if the work- ing of a double line was found dangerous it should be lawful for the Governor to order one of the lines to be discontinued. It was not com- pulsory on the Company to make a double line, and having full knowledge that the Governor in Council might order them to abandon expensive works they would satisfy themselves before under- taking them that there was no danger, and as the select Committee had reported in favour of a double line he thought the Council might pass it. The ACTING COLONIAL TREASURER said the proviso added to clause 4 was arrived at in order to smooth over matters for the time being. It was by no manner of means the unanimous opinion of the select Committee that a double line should be allowed. since then be had care- fully observed the traffic of the road and he was certainly of opinion that in Queen's-road Central it would be unwise to authorise a double line. The width of an ordinary dog cart was from 5ft. 6in, to 6ft. He found the gutters generally took up about zft. sin, on cach side of the road, and that the amount of space left by a double line of tramway would be so narrow that it would be almost impossible, even if the lines were to be so close together that the cars almost touched in passing, for a carriage to stand on the side of the
road without being an obstruction to a tramway car. It had been assumed that Queen's-road had a general width of 31ft., whereas opposite the Cricket Ground it was only 27ft. 3in., and op- posite the star Hotel it was only a few inches wider. There was only one portion of the whole section referred to in tramway No. 2 where a double line was feasible, and that was possibly from Murray Barracks to Ice House-lane, and there only because there were houses only on one side of the road. Where there were houses on both sides it would be impossible for chairs to stop before the shops, and he obser- ved that in England there was considerable op- position to a Tramway Bill by shopkeepers, ow- ing to the loss of custorn that would be entailed by the tramway line being so close to their shops as there would be no possibility of vehicles set- ting down passengers.
Hon. F. B. JOHNSON said he thought it would be almost impossible to meet the arguments of the hon. gentleman opposite in the absence of the plans and the engineers who were respon- sible for the drawing of the plans, but his recollec- tion of what took place in Select Committee was that those who were examined stated that people at home had become almost unanimous that a double line had advantages over a single line. He was not aware until that moment of the opposition to be offered by the hon. member oppo- site, and as he was under the impression the opinion of the Committee had been unanimously arrived at, he was not in a position to question the facts the member had brought forward and therefore he must leave the matter in the hands of the Committee, depending solely on the result of the vote of the r ajority of the Council.
The ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE, as Chairman of the Select Committee, said he thought there could be no doubt any tramway in these streets would be a most serious inconvenience, but the only question he looked at was whether the amount of accom- modation given to the public would not exceed the inconvenience which people who had to use the road in another way would be subject to. When they came to the conclusion that a double line could be recommended safely it was, he thought, on these grounds, that the street would hardly at any time be occupied by two carriages except when they were passing, and that con- sequently, although the street would be occu- pied by the two lines, yet passengers, if they saw a tram car coming down one line could get on the other and make use of the street just as well as if there was a single line only. It was thought that if there was a single line only there would be so many points of stoppage, and the cars would have to stop so many minutes, that the inconvenience would be almost as great as if they had sanctioned a double line. With regard to the point alluded to by his hou. friend, Captain Deane, that a double line of tramways would prevent a carriage stopping op- posite the shops, he agreed with him that such à thing would be almost impossible, and the only thing for the carriage to do, it seemed to hini, was to move on the other line when there was a tram car approaching. The effect of the evidence. on his mind was that there was very little addi- tional danger or inconvenience entailed by having a double line of rails instead of a single one, but anything Captain Deane said, after having studied the subject, would have considerable weight with
him,
The Hon. M. S. TONNOCHY said it appeared to him that it would be so much easier to put down one line first, and then add another one afterwards, than to put down a double line at first, and then have to take one up afterwards. Another objection he had to commencing with a double line was that be thought it best to try the single line first for this reason-that what- ever improvements were made in tram rails, they were sure to be more or less an inconvenience to carriages, especially to jinrickshas. He was surprised, when on one occasion he was in san Francisco, to see the splendid and spirited look- ing horses which were standing at the side of the road, on the side walk, as it was called, which stood there without moving off with nothing to keep them there but a fastening attached to some weight which stood upon the ground. When he saw these spirited horses there, he expected to find that there were many accidents caused, but during the time he was there, there were only two accidents, which were caused by the locking of the wheels of carriages in the tram rails. Therefore, having in view the inconvenience
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