Daily Kennebec journal., 1911-02-23

! a
| account ,r this measure. During th'
| pend .ncy # the mgtt'r the North Enc
| p,oplc had seen their opportunity foi
| action and lad aslicd for the resump
| uon If service IL the Edwards mill
| which service VAS given hut only
| continued f,r a short time.
Tho acr no advocated was one carry
| ing out the purport OF law, although
h,, was afraid that it was not specih-
| cally prOy ided by existing Law. Ht
believed the municipal officers should
have authority 10 compel the company
Ia resume service upon the location
which IL Fad abandoned.
CIV solicitor Mclean testified that
the L. 4. & W. st. lty. had not COM
plied with the order Of the city eeuh-
Gil to resume traffic upon State street.
He exnlninod how when the location
v,as originally granted cars ran M
State street 10 Bond, from Bond down
to Wqter street and back again to meet
the main limo at Grove street Junction
After the track had been taken NJ
on Gee House hill cars had run on
Water street, north of Bridge. the
nassongnr service was finally abandon
ed and then the freight and now there
were no cars running at all.
Senator Edwards. the chairman oi
thn committee, asked if the maintain
inc Of the service on the northern part
of water street to the Edwards mill
had anything to do with the double
tracking of Water street, but Mr..
Heath assured him that the two prop
ositions were entirely independent.
George 4. Cloutier testified that he
had been 4 wholesale and retail groe-
er on Water street for 10 years. The
running of ears at the North End help
&c business great deal. He noticed
when the service was resumed for a
few weeks last year that it largely in
creased the number of people from
winthrop, Granite Hill, Hallowell and
Gardiner that came to his store.
Arthur Tetreault testified that he
had been in the drug business on Wa
ter street for 80 years and said that il
was the desire of the entire public in
his section that the service should be
maintained. J. @. Blanchette testified
that at tho suggestion of FIR. LaRiyfere
he and Alderman Cote rad passed q
petition and had secured 400 voters as
signars. He said the Edwards Mill
employed over 1900 people and con-
siderable number of it's employees were
from Hall0well and Gardiner and We're
Obliged to walk from Bridge street to
the mills. Cross-eXamination brought
out the statement that Alderman Cote
did not vote upon the proposition OF
doutle-tra cking Water street.
Elmer T.. Newbert. city clerk Of Au
gusta testified that ON April %. 1909,
the CITY council passed an order in
stru2ting the city solicitor to order the
stree railway to open up its line To
tive Edwards mill. November. 1910, the
city council passed an order requesting
tho street railway To resume service
or state street which had been dis
continued on ole Of the finest days in
autumn after only 24-hours notice to
the public The state street car ac-
comrnodated the "Bluestoeking wards
lie library and the court house or at
tend the city churches.
Attorney Heath in opening his ar
gument said that he had supposed thai
the present Governor of the State was
elected mayor of Augusta for the
fourth time on account of his execu.
tive ability and not because of the
double tracking of Water street. He
said that the original loop track over
Gas House hill was not run more than
Que year. There was no travel on it and
il was discontinued by common cor
sent on account of the danger on the
steep hill, which was sleeper than
Rines hill. and the sharp turn AT the
foot OF the hill. Development of the
road brought bigger and higher cars
which could not be sent under the
overhead bridge of the Maine Central
Railroad at the North End. The city
government did order the resumption
of service to the Edwards mills and
it was maintained for n short time
With the small, low car on state street.
General Manager Ivcrs testified that
in the "A days the, road was operated
from Bridge street to the Edwards
mill but three people rode on it. He
also stated that lack Of power and the
necessity of the use of all the cars to
maintain the Holiday service to VIM
throp and Gardiner were the reasons
ItT ulStOIltluulUS llt StINICt VII fNtdlt
street contrary to the order of the city
government. He had written a letter
10 the mayor explaining the matter
and talked with number Of Augusta
citizens who seemed to think there
would be no serious Inconvenience
from disContinuGnCe of the State street
service. Crosse examination brought
out the Information that tho power
This side al Sabattus was obtained
from the Genital Maine Power Co,
ana the reason there vas no more
power was because the Central Maine
Power 90. was not called upon by con
tract to furnish amy more power.
Mr., Iv"rs stated that in LAOS til"
state street car ran 1866 days, from
JUly ! To Dec. -, in 1908 it run -"
days from April % To Dee. 26, in l9l"
| il ran 80 DAYS from Alril Ia Nov u.
y" record WIS kept "l tarrS collected
~ l9"A, the total number of fares col
| l'ct"d in l!na WIS 7"i? cash fares and
N3o transf. -. In tala 2565 fares were
collected AND II" transfers. The total
ireNrnu's tor jho three years amount
Tea I" HiS".,". 1t cost $2o.3I daily I"
t"p"rate The ear and tho average rev"-
nN" WaS 80 cents. Mr. Ivrrs was
sharply cr"Ss-rNaminod ny Mr.. Mahcl
| ina regard t. tho rerriptS tn tn,. road