Re: Christchurch-first in 90 year claim

For PR people it only has to be right in relation to the campaign they are
running or the Release they are writing or the event they are covering.

I am cursed as a PR man by a desire to tell the straight story
(attractively). It cuts down my output but does not make me part of the
problem when it comes to the truth.

Bob Murphy
IS Edit Transport & Technical Communications
PO Box 111
Campbells Creek VIC 3451
AUSTRALIA

Tel: +61 3 5476 4408
5476 4474

[email protected]
[email protected]
----- Original Message -----
From: <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, August 27, 2001 8:22 AM
Subject: [TramsDownUnder] Christchurch-first in 90 year claim

Thanks to Bill Bolton and Val Golding for their comments and accurate
info. This has prompted me to do what I should have done before I
put electronic pen to electronic paper: go look up the references.

Yes to Leonora being 1901-so my claim goes out.
Yes to Geelong in 1912.

But:

Christchurch's claim is only blown out of the water in relation to
these other systems listed below. If on the other hand it is taken to
mean 90 years since Christchurch's electric trams began, then the 90
year claim makes perfect sense, since the electric trams began June 6,
1905 and ran to November 9th 1954. So, I wonder if by the time I read
the claim it had been misquoted, distorted and incorrectly amplified
from what it should have been--90 years since the last Christchurch
system opened--to what I read it as--nearly 90 years since ANY new
system opened in Australasia?

That's the trouble with PR people and their press releases, all
foaming at the mouth with excitement, effective at their job of
trumpeting good news about their client to anyone who'll listen,and
most helpful to their client if they can get the story right and
broadcast the exact message their client wants them to get across, but
relatively untroubled by accuracy when a deadline looms.

OK PR people, correct me if I'm wrong.

Auckland NI NZ Electric trams November 24 1902-December 29 1956
Wellington NI NZ Electric trams June 30 1904-May 2 1964
Dunedin SI NZ. Electric trams December 24 1905-March 29 1956*
Wanganui NI NZ. Electric trams December 11 1908-September 9, 1950.
Invercargill SI NZ. Electric trams March 26, 1912-September 10, 1952*
Takapuna NI NZ. Steam trams December 22 1910-April 26 1927.
Gisborne NI NZ Battery trams April 13 1913-February 3 1931.
Napier NI NZ. Electric trams September 8 1913-February 2 1931.
New Plymouth NI NZ. Electric trams March 10 1916-July 23 1954.


* Dunedin had either a horse or steam operation in 1879 but I don't
know how long one or the other lasted. Moreover, there was a separate
horse car service on Maori Hill from December 1883 that lasted some
years and a 3'6" gauge electric system that ran December 10 1900 to
July 1 1936. The 1905-1956 electric system was standard gauge.

*Invercargill had horse cars from December 1881 to March 1908 but the
narrow-gauge system was closed down for four years and reopened as
standard-gauge electric in 1912. Same routes?

Andrew D. Young









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