Norwich bulletin., 1917-09-05
WILL VETO ACTION
 ON GRoToN FERRY.
New kepdon Council Votes Down
 committee's Recommendation:

New Lepdon Council Votes Down | committee's Recommendations: l -----r-s The question of wfstiier the city of New London should operate the Gro l ton Ferry or the right should be ieas- | previous years, came before the com | mon council in that city Tuesday ev- | ening. There has been mitch dis- satisfaction in New London in re- | gard to the way the ferry has been op- only Iyea solution u that a presented @ hsseif was l that the city operate the ferry.
 | At the council meeting the com I mittee recommended that the city take | np the work of operating the ferry 1 but this recommendation when put | to a vote was defeated by a vote of g | to G.
 who is strongly in favor of fr1unici- l pal operation of the line said that he will veto the action taken by the council as he thinks it would be for ferry operated by the city. When the action is vetoed it will bring the mat 1 ter up again for consideration in about a month and will give time for | the members of the council to think | the matter over seriously.
 There is considerable interesting l history connected with the lease of the ferry by the company which has conducted it for the score of years originally made for the first ten years l the rental was $2.759 per annuna. l After the lease had run about six paGy established it's plant on the old l Groton. employing about 2,ooo men in the constipation of. the Dig steamers Minnesota and Dakota. It was found that the running of one ferry boat was inadequate to carry traffic which ensued. so the Thames Ferry con1- pany agreed to put on a secotd ferry boat and run the same from the Greton shore to the Eastern SIiip Building company plant, continuously to the end of the lease. and. in addi- ton. pay $4.010 year and per ce''t- Of its annual gross receipts. if the city would agree to extend it's lease another ten years. Before the second lease was con sum,nAted there was considerable oo- position over the granting of the exr tension. but the cpnmittee of the ter in charge. finally voted to give the Thames Ferry company the addi- tional lease of ten years for the price stated after a lengthy session and other regular bidder. A few. years later. after the conDietion of the two big steamships. the Eastern Ship Building company became a part of
 
 and unor failure of the latter con cern the plant in Groton fell Into disuse, was finally dismantled and the machinery sold. With tho sue- there was no longer use for a second ferry and the latter was discon- tinued
 Tn making these changes the buy ing of the second ferry boat and the building of approach and floats was heavy draft upon the resources of the Thames Ferry company. It was currently reported at the time that the company, had sunk over s1oo,000 in it's efforts to take care of the tenn porariIy increased traffic by main taining second ferry boat. Evi- dentiv there was not much profit in the ferry business for a number of years, but the advent Of automo- piles and the automobile tourist and the increased population of the towns across the river has largely increa sed | the traffic over the ferry. For sew | eral wears. during summer season es- five over the ferry as it could possibly | handle. making three trips an hour, l frequently carrying eighteen auto l mobiles on the trip. At the present | periods of the day is utterly made quate to accommodate the large num- | Der of automobiles which desire to | cross the river, and freqently there | are tWSHCy-nVe 10 HIty m2CnlneS | waiting to get passage. Whatever l losses the ferry company sustained | during the lean years have been fully | made up by the recent fat ones:
 There is very strong feeling on the part of the citizens of both New London and Groton that after the ex- piratipn of the present lease the ferry l should be operated by the city of New London %or the benefit of the people of both communities. The ad- vocates of city operation believe that | for a number of years at least the city could give the very best of serv- ice, making some reduction in rates of ferriage and still show a handsome profit. which could be applied to pay .ong off the cost of taking over the ferry plant. There is good reason to believe that even with a high way bridge in use the ferry would continue to receive a paying patron age. M
 The present receipts of the ferry are in the neighborhood of $75,00o a year and it is a very general belief that the cost of operation Is less than half that amount. The present a four years. extension of their lease a tthe present rental. in return for which they agree to put on a new ferry boat to cost s100,000. The pre- sumption is that after the four-year lease, should an extension of that kind be granted, the city, in order to regain possession of the franchise, H would have to buy the new ferry boat at it's appraised .valution.
 
 Hospital Association. ,