Daily Kennebec journal., 1917-03-17
Further | Hearing Of the
Complaints Against the
/. A. & w. St. RAILWAY

the last eight months increa Sed SON,
or 9 per cent. Bath. with its new sh,,
building prosperity and increased to,,.
lation, had forced the keeping in ss.
vice there Of the cars which had hato,
in the winter been released for NJ.
elsewhere. All other sections also MAJ
! ed all their own cars and could s,...
none. The coming of the 54-hourL.
had congested travel az certain bor.'
Winter delays were expected and ~
avoidable
In answer to Attorney Nahers ma.
tion as to whether or not the inc-sas.,
traffic had not been expected and -
/ had been done to meet II Mr Ri,
stated that the company had for mor,h,
| had under consideration and engina..
at work seeing what was need ~
complete replacing of the powe- eo,,,n
ment, but that II was big pronos'to,,
and meant the outlay OF abou, 5000 ono
and could not be done IN a few rinT,o,
Pressed as to what had been dors :,
| meet the immediate necessity Mr.. Ro,,i,
/ said the same answer would apply.
| He Admitted heavy increase in ,,.,
| fc and freight business in the 3oc,,
service and that the power distrIk,,,ion
! service was laid out TO care for 1orss
the Hal1owell plant caring for the A.
| gusta-Gardiner zone and portions of ~.
! Winthrop. Lewiston and Bangor roas
: zones. and when asked why the addi,Ion
| of another converter at the Hallowau
plant would not have taken car. of u.
roads needs at the time Of ths sacr.
dent said that ii would but tia, d
was simply impossible To obtain sths
machinery. ~
| Commissioner Mullen asked how Ions
it would take to get such machine 1.
ordered and Mr.. Bowie said iha, was
| just what he had been trying TO era
out and without success from the Gen.
eral Electric Co.
He stated that owing to cons.ructim
some of the available four-vheel car.
were not considered safe for the Quick
run between Augusta and Gardner
| Percy A Weymouth OF Lewiston as
sistant to the general superintendent
| stated that record Of the daily pas.
senger work of all cars was made and
kept on file and he presented fables
showing what the 5:i5 +. NJ cars. regu.
lar and extra, from Hallowell e. Angus.
ia from Feb. to March l3 had carried
the point being TO show that. with their
seating capacity, they had not he,r
/ over-crowdad
! William NJ. Bradley Of Portland rreS.
dent of the Lewiston. Augusta and
| Waterville Street Railway. stated tha,
plans had been made for the addition
by purchase of moro four -wNeelers. 10
be placed wherever needed but that
they could not get the promise Of
! single car for delivery at any tim.
within IL months
! Answering Commissioner Shelton. he
said that he had been Informed from
the head Office that the cars mentioned
had been ordered
! Mr.. Bradley also said that orders fr
otner electric railroad supplies were H.
the same fix. The General Electro Co
had notified his company they would
make no contracts at all ana mar any or.
oers accepted would be subject to the
governments taking over the plant st
any moment and all orders would be sui.
ject to being sidetracked for government
WORK. With rails, no manufacturer would
talk of delivery before 1915
Attorney Maher in reviewing the test.
mony stated that the conditions stated by
Mr.. Bradley concerning the securing Of
supplies, ETC.. and the weather conditions
told by Mr.. Bowie were perfectly obvious
out that the company's mistake was Il
not anticipating the increased business
and being prepared to handle it. The
companys own interests would dictate
10 conforming at once to all the require
ments OF the occasion. II seemed absurd
TO depend on the present power system q,
the Hallowell plant to take care of suca
greatly increased freight and passenger
traffic-the system is entirely inadequate
Commissioner Shelton stated that The
case would be suspended. not closed n
order If the commission wished TO max
investigation along certain points Of n.
matter and that it was only fair TO botl
parties to state that the commission since
the complaints had been filed had on ts
own account had inspectors investigating
the conditions II might be that the
would wish to again cali N
both parties and for that reason wouli
simply suspend the hearing Due notca
would be given Of any further meeting