Accrington on Rails - The Tramways: A Complete History - Robert Kenyon

240 May At a meeting of the Electrical & Tramways Committee, a letter was received from the District Secretary of the Amalgamated Association of Tramway & Vehicle Workers giving twenty-one days’ notice in accordance with the Munitions Act, and on behalf of their membership they would withdraw their labour unless the application for a 10/- per week increase was granted, or the case had not been referred to the Committee on Production for the purposes of arbitration. The Tramway Manager intimated that he had already informed the Association that this application could not be entertained, and this and any other applications would be dealt with in conjunction with other municipalities. In accordance with previous instructions, the Tramway Manager having submitted his report on workpeople’s fares recommended the following - The original 1 penny workmen’s return should be reduced from 2 pence to 1½d and the original 2d return should go up to 2½ pence. It was resolved to adopt his recommendations. The Chairman reported on the meeting with representatives from Haslingden Corporation in order to discuss the charges paid by them for the tramway services provided by Accrington Corporation Tramways in their Borough. They came to a provisional agreement based on the actual cost of the service as ascertained in the annual published accounts of the undertaking, and that such payments would be based on these accounts from year to year. They also discussed the question of an additional payment for the year just gone, to compensate Accrington for the extra charges imposed upon them especially ‘patriotic’ payments. These were looked upon sympathetically by Haslingden, who indicated they would respond shortly to these suggestions. It was resolved the Accrington deputation’s actions would be accepted and approved. The Finance Committee met on this same day when the Borough Treasurer said that there would be no contributions from the Tramway profits for the financial year 1917-18 to other funds. The Accrington Observer & Times of Saturday May 19th 1917 reported an accident in Oswaldtwistle – A single-deck tram was in collision with a steam wagon at 06:30 on Union Road just below tbhaec kLwi barradrsy.s oHme aev 4i l y0 ltaod5e 0n ywairtdhs ,r oblel sf o or ef pt haep ecro, ntdhue c vt ri eosl es n, tMiims spAa cntn icea uCsheadd wt hi ec kt roafmU nt oi o nb eS tprue seht ei dn Awcecnrti nf go trowna, rwd sa ,s f ae ba rl ei ntgo tbhrai nt gt hi et tmo oat os tramnadns ,t i2l l5uys ei nagr tohl de hJ oahnnd Bb rr iadkgee. Sohf eS pa lroi nn gg Swt irtehe tt hi en pAacscsrei nnggteorns wv easst i bb ua dl el yb iunl jkuhreeadd. . HHee wwaas s f of ruenedd saenmd i -t caokne snc ii onut os ap i nn enaerdb yb esthwoepe nw ht heer ec oDnotcrtool r eAq .u Ei p. mT oe wn tn al enyd wt ha es ci najlul erdi etsot ho i tmh .e Hl oe wwears ptahretnotfahkiesnbtoodVy i wc t eorrei anHo ot saps i st aelvbe yr eaams baut l fai nr scte ,t hwohuegrhet i. tTwh ae sf rdoi na gt noof st ehde tchaar t wt ha es enxotneensoifvtehlye pdaasmsaegnegderws iotrhtahlel tchoendwuicntdroeswsswbarsohkeunrta. nd glass scattered all around, but miraculously The steam wagon, the property of the Times Motor Haulage Company, of Brookside in Haslingden was being operated. It was finally resolved the Tramway Manager should consider and report on the question of a revision of the workmen’s fares. In a statement to the Council Alderman Higham said he supported the proposal of the Lancashire & Cheshire Tramway Undertakings, to divide the country into areas in order to create greater uniformity when it came to tramway affairs. He thought that Accrington, Blackburn, Burnley, Haslingden and Rawtenstall would all benefit from being on a par when it came to wages, conditions of service and rates of pay. Cllr Nuttall asked if a half-pence fare could be introduced on the trams instead of withdrawing workmen’s fares, in saying this he felt that much revenue had been ‘thrown away’ due to the resistance to introducing them. Cllr Wilkinson contended that the current level of fares discriminated against workpeople in the Burnley Road area of the town, whose current level of fares were disproportionately higher than those on the Clayton Section. Alderman Higham said the Tramway Manager had been instructed to investigate the introduction of a 1½d workmen’s return fare, where the fare was 1 penny and had recently gone up to 2 pence. He added that the introduction of ½d fare had been tried over and over again, and had proved to be impossible. “What about in Burnley?” he was asked. Alderman Higham replied that Burnley did not have any ½d fares! He acknowledged that half-penny fares might work for cars going through the town centre, but where passengers were having to change trams whilst on one ticket had been proved not to work well in our town. He did say, “For through cars the Committee might try to introduce ½d fares, but to introduce them universally would cause a loss too serious altogether for a concern such as ours”.