THE CHANCE FOR ROAD MOTORS IN SOUTH AFRICA.
Page 26
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Sir William Hoy, general manager of railways and harbours, Union of South Africa, deals briefly with the subject of road-motor competition in his official report just issued for the year ended March 31st, 1923.
Attention, he !says, has been directed in bulletins and in previous annual reports to the road vehicular competition with which railways in Great Britain, America, and, to some extent, South Africa have been faced. The necessity for road transport being controlled and regulated and the desirability of its acting as a feeder of the railways in districts not having rail communication,
n42 instead of as a competitor in areas in which an efficient railway service has already been provided, are being strongly emphasized in the United States, In South Africa road transport companies are at liberty to pick and choose their traffic and make whatever charges they please, whereas the activities of the railways as common carriers are governed by public regulations and
public tariffs. Mechanical road transport, in the opinion of Sir William Hoy, is not destined to rival railway transport. Its function 35 to act as an auxiliary to the railways and so assist in increasing
and extending the utility of existing rail-L • way systems. Sir William Hoy adds that there are many districts iii South Africa the development of which is retarded by ire adequate transport. facilities, but in which, on account of the capital expenditure involved in construction, not even a light line of railway would be justified. Motor vehicles would, however, do good work in the majority of such districts,. given Suitable roads. The Administration has established several road-motor services, the operation of which during the last financial year yielded a profit of £1,207.