Electric traction

At the end of 1910 the Funchal Municipal Council (Câmara Municipal) tried to introduce electric traction in the city, going as far as awarding the contract for the work to the now defunct Empresa Madeirense de Automóveis. As this award was not approved by the higher authorities, the Council drew up new terms for the operation, and on 24 August 1911 it resolved to ask the District General Council (Junta Geral) for the permanent and free transfer of the national roads on which the electric lines would have to be laid. The General Council refused this transfer, on the grounds that it intended to put out to tender the work of establishing that system of traction on the roads in its charge. The Council then decided to abandon its plan to give the city the improvement we refer to, and to place the municipal roads at the disposal of the General Council so that it could carry it out on whatever terms it saw fit.

The General Council, as is well known, did nothing, and only in 1923 did it again take an interest in establishing electric traction on the island. An English company appears to be willing to undertake this improvement, if the conditions that the General Council sets in the tender to be opened suit it (1921).

In June 1917 an advertisement appeared in the Funchal newspapers inviting all those interested in establishing electric traction to state, at the offices of A. Georgi & C.ª or Reid Castro & C.ª, the sums they intended to subscribe towards this improvement. Nobody answered the call, because the promoter of the venture, although an honest man, offered no guarantee of providing sound management for the works he intended to carry out (1921).

Under Article 6 of the terms for the award of the contract for building and operating horse tramways (caminhos de ferro americanos) in Funchal, which accompanied the decree of 2 August 1902, the contractor was permitted to use electric traction on the lines he might build.