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001C9716 A Wee z.y '.8 ews sa oe- $1.00 per year. Ct'rcuiatt'ng tn tive Di strict'f West Vancouver-- Amblesse de, Hollyburn, Weston, Dundarave Cypress Park, Caulfeild, Whytecltff, Etc. Nawaatanda sc per copy ) Vol. IV EIGHT PAGES HOLLYBURN P.O., WEST VANCOUVER, B.C., THURSDAY, APRIL 5th, i929 No. 1 Marine Drive Extension is Now Finished The new road from IVest Bay to Horseshoe Bay is com- pleted. The contractors are removing their machines and tools. Nearly all the workmen have already gone. There are just a few odds and ends to attend to arid the road will be formally handed over to the municipality. The new highway is one of the most attractive to be found anywhere in B. C. The construction is very evirlently the ivork of experienced men who thoroughly know their work and it is a fairly safe assumption that the road will "stand up." A letter from one of our readers is given in this issue. I ~ View of part of the new Marine Drive extension, showing the cohcrete shoulders on each side, which, besides giving a fmirhed appearance to the roacl, protect it from being broken away at the edges by the heavy traffic. The centre is of IVarrenite bitulithic pavement, which is being laid down all over this continent, in those cases where the cost of construc- tion prevents the use of concrete, on account of its great wearing surface and low maintenance cost. In it a reference is made to the article we had a couple of weeks ago regarding the Douglas Road. The writer congratu- lates the municipality upon having escaped the experience of Burnaby, whose predicament evidently was caused through acceptance of the lowest tender. Almost everyone has had the knowledge impressed upon them that the lowest tender is not necessarily the cheapest, or perhaps we should say, the most economical. The pictures we print of this new hlarine Drive extension will give some idea of the general appearance of the road bed. You should, however, take the first opportunity offered of travelling over it yourself. We would like to see the whole of 5Iarine Drive roadway built in the same way. The cement curbings will add very considerably to the appearance and the life of the road. EVe understand from the chairman of public works that tenders for the new bridge and the paving of the road from West Bay to the easterly limits of the municipality will ba called for within the next week or so. )Ve should insist upon having the same quality of road as has been laid in this newly finished portion. The Council did good service to the municipality in insist- ing upon their own choice of contractors a few months ago and in the years to come the taxpayers will recognise to fhe full the wisdom of their course. Another view of the new Alarine Drive extension, ri modern roadway in every particular, which M;ith its fine surface will be a material factor in inducing tourists from other parts of Greater Vancouver to take up their residence in this district. HON. T. D. PATTULO AND CAI T. iIACKENZIE )VII L ADDRESS II EETING IN IVEST VAN. TONIGHT The Hon. T. D. Pattulo, II.P. I'., leader of the opposition in the Provincial Legislature and Cap- tain Ian ilIackenzie, member for this riding in the Provincial House, with, it is expected, ibIrs. Mary Ellen Smith, will address a public meeting in the Amble- side Hall tonight--Friday--at 8 p. m. This meeting which is in the nature of a social evening has been arranged by the IVest Van- couver I.iheral Association and a cordial invitation is extended to the general public to be present. The prominence of the speak- ers is expected to cause a crowd- ed hall and those who wish to hear them should put in an early appearance. SCHOOL RE-OPENS ON MONDAY The public and high schools open again for the summer term next Monday morning after the Easter recess, which the teach- ers have spent attending the meetings of the B. C. Teachers'ederationin Vancnuver Apart from their studies the children will soon be all playing baseball, and it is understood that a tour- nament is to be staged next week in the Inglewood School auditori- um to wind up the basketball season. Get Your Name on The Voters'ist Unless application for rein- statement is made by tomorrow, April 6, approximately 2000 vot- ers in this riding who failed to exercise the franchise at the last provincial election will have their names struck off the provincial voters'ist, states E. N. Copping registrar of voters. Application for enrollment may be made at Mr. Copping's office, 28 Lonsdale avenue and the final opportunity to apply for enroll- ment will be presented on Mon- day, hlay 20, when the court of revision ivill be held here. I'. G. E. SURVEY TO BE STARTED With the object of making a thorough survey of the P. G. E. resources announcement was made over Easter that the gov- ernment field parties in charge of this ivork would start out early in May. The C. P. R. and C. N. R. will co-operate with the government in this work, al- though the surveys will be under government direction. IVhile the P. G. E. land grants were set aside some years ago iio adequate information on them has been secured in the opinion of the government. This year the areas will be investigated thoroughly. The objective of t he parties inspecting these lands will be chiefly to ascertain their wealth in timber, minerals and agricultural possibilities, and thus to determine their pros- pcwts as settlement and indus- (Continued on Page 8) Transportation At the meeting of the Ratepayers'ssociation last Tues- day there was one thought given which was worthy of more than special attention--the relation of the IIarine Drive road- way to the ferries. Both the road and the ferries are means of transportation to and from the city and as such have to be paid for by the ratepayers of 4Vest Vancouver. The man who drives his automobile over &Iarine Drive pays exactly the same as the man who does not oem an automobile. It should be remembered that without the ferries West Vancouver would have had practically no development or expansion. The route covered by them should be considered exactly in the same light as the ~Iarine Drive roadway. To build a new road we have to expend a certain sum of money according to the kind of road and the difficulties of construction. The average life of such a road is figured to be from fifteen to twenty years. For the first five years the cost of maintenance should be practically nil, but during the second, third, and fourth five-year periods the cost becomes increasingly larger and at the end of the twenty years the road has usually to be entirely reconstructed. Everybody contributes their quota towards the cost of such roads whether they use them or not. They are free to our visitors. There is no commutation ticket for those living in the district, and there is no limit to the number of trips they can make. Are not our ferries in a some- what similar position as far as the convenience and utility of Ehe people is concerned. AVe have to have a road to Vancou- ver. If we cannot build such a road on terra firma, we build it on the water. In other words we use our ferries as a road. EVhy should not this kind of a road be paid for and operated on somewhat the same theory. The ferries constitute a public utility as does the road highway. The initial cost of building them should be borne by the taxpayer at large as it now is. But the cost to the passengers of using the ferries should be restricted to the operating costs. There should be no endeavor to make a profit or to make the boats pay their capital charges. If a tongue of land stretched across the First Narrows, we should, of course, have had a paved road thereon to take us to Vancouver instead of ferries. The fixed charges and maintenance on such a road would have been paid every year by the taxpayers, and nobody would have objected. Yet, be- cause we have to cross Burrard Inlet by ferries, we kick and kick hard whenever there is a deficit or a rise in the ferry fare. Viewed in this way, and everyone wil] admit that it is the correct way, there is neither rhym nor reason in our attitude. The ferries should not be expected to make more than operat- igg charges. We have been told that the number of passengers carried by the ferries is falling off, and the reason for this is not far to seek in the number of new auto owners in the district, most of whom out of the kindness of their hearts are running a daily private transportation service free for their friends. Take the case of any individual who has been in the habit of using the ferries daily and then buys a car, which he uses to travel to the city. The ferry system is out 96 rides every month for him alone, and probably at least another 10 rides for his family. And, if he takes every day from one to three friends to Vancouver and back, as many do, we can readily see just how much the ferries have lost on one new car onmer alone. When the number of new car owners in West Van- couver this last year or two is taken into consideration, the reason for the decrease in our ferr~ re"eipts is easily seen. Let us give one specific instance. Of course we cannot give the name of the partv in mind. This gentleman up to about three months ago used the ferry each day to transport him to and from the city, 2 trips each day, ivhich means at least 175 trips in three months. Supposing, and it is a reasonable supposition, that his wife or members of his family make 25 round trips during the three months. That means a total number of trips for this family of 225 for the three months.-- Lost business for the ferry. This particular man can be seen every day taking at least one other neighbor or friend with him to and from the city--more often there are two or three accompanying him. Hence you can double the figure 225 with perfect safety. The fact of this new automobile being intro- duced into the district means a loss of at least 450 passengers on the ferry for a period of only three months. Now this is one car only. Just fancy one auto means a loss of 1800 passengers annually. If there were six suctl instances and we believe there are at least that number, you can thus account for 10,000 passengers each year. We do not by any means say that they should not continue to travel as they do, but we do say that the municipal trans- portation problems should appeal to them in a slightly different way to what they did before they operated their own private transportation system.