Government Grip Closing on Ni. Road Transport A CABLE from Wellington
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states that a Bill to give the Minister of Transport final authority to license commercial road and air services in New Zealand passed its first reading in the House of Representatives on May 12. A copy of the Bill has not yet reached London, but its contents may be broadly anticipated from statements which the Hon. Robert Semple, Minister of Transport in the New Zealand Government, made last February.
Tip to that time the Transport Coordination Board, which had been set up in 1934, under legislation of the previous year, to replace the Transport Appeal Board, was the main licensing authority for road and air services.
It had the three-fold function of a board of appeal from the decisions of the nine district licensing authorities (for goods and passenger road services), a licensing authority for air services (without appeal) and an advisory board to investigate transport problems for the Minister. Besid'es the nine district licensing authorities, there was a central licensing authority in charge of long-distance road passenger services throughout the Dominion.
The Minister of Transport said, in February, that the whole transport system was most unsatisfactory and the existing legislation made the Minister " just a rubber stamp." He con demned cut-throat competition. He said that, pending further legislation to reconstruct the system of control, the functions of the Transport Coordination Board were suspended. The Cabinet then set up a committee to consider co-ordination of road, rail, sea and air services, and cables were sent to Queensland, South Africa and other parts of the Empire in search of information on the subject of transport licensing. From these events, last February, we may expect that the new Bill vests power to license road and air services directly in the Minister of Transport. The tendency in New Zealand seems to be to abolish many of the boards which have controlled various industries.
The Railways Board was abolished some time ago and, as the railways are State-owned, practically the entire transport system of the Dominion will come under the Minister if the present Bill goes through.