To the Editor of the "Nortu-Cama Datty News."
Sm,—May a humble amateur be permitted to offer a means of re-me dying the neglect of the Avenue Edward VII, which you attribute to "face"? I was one of the earliest owners of motor-cars here and can speak with.very ample experience on that subject.
Will you allow the point that the Yangkingpang was only culverted after very powerful opposition? Will you also recall that among the terms upon which the project was ultimately accepted, was a tacit agreement that never should the new thoroughfare be profaned by the presence of the then-hated tramear, which was anathema to the owners of motor-cars, who spoke on the subject. I own no tram shares amd am purely disinterested in the following suggestion, which is not made with any claims to have investigated "ill arguments pro and con.
It is certain that the average low-class Chinese is not a quick thinker. He is generally ready to accept a "fait accompli" and to accommodate himself to circumstances. Still his memory needs frequent jogging, at the start. I imitate St. Paul and "I speak as a fool" in this connexion, but I would submit that the trams do more to teach the Chinese trafic regulation and promptness in street-crossing, ete., than even the police.
Why should it not be possible to ignore the obsolete vapourings of the original opponents of the Yangking-pang culverting scheme and to invite the tramway companies both sides of Avenue Edward VII to relay their lines, putting the Canton Road line down the north side of the Avenue, and the Rue clu Consulat line on the south side? The junction from the Chekiang Road might be diverted down the broad Boulevard Montigny. The present connecting narrow streets are incapable of development, while the present lines in the Avenue des Deux Republiques would serve traffic purposes equally well.
It is nearly always a stray countryman that is the victim of tram or motor accident, or else small children. As proved by the Chinese lines along Nantao, etc., that class quickly learns to look after itself when its memory is forcibly jogged every few minutes.
he above suggestion, if practical, would free two very narrow and congested streets, the Canton Road and Rue clu Consular, from the trams, which are undoubtedly obstacles to free locomotion in such surroundings. In the Avenue Edward VII the trams would automatically serve as traffic re gulators and, at the same time their presence would divert the traffic and go far to rehabilitate the upper end of the Avenue and give it the "face" it now lochs. With the details of such a change I do not venture to deal. The point that the Avenue is be straightened at some Utopian date is of little importance. The relaying of the tram rails is not a difficult operation under such conditions.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.