IRISH FREE STATE AND HIGHER TAXATION.
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Alleged Unfavourable Attitude to Bus Traffic Attributed to Unrestricted Competition Between Rival Companies.
-E1ROM the viewpoint of the passenger 11 the present state of traffic competition in, Ireland is admirable. Trains,• trams and buses offer him, or her, a superfluity of services at ridiculously lo -v fares. There are few places to which elle Cannot travel either by bus or train and at a cost comparing favourably with that which ruled before the war. It is all delightful for the passenger, but it is a game which many of the road-transport companies are carrying on under cenditions verging on the uneconomic.
In short, there is no control of traffic and a resolution brought before the Irish Free State Senate by Dr. Oliver C'Togarty calling for the co ordination of ail brielches of transport under a separate ministry had everything to commend it. it was a double-barrelled resolution, however, and the other part ce= it called for a revision of tas in respect of heavy motor vehicles. At the request of the Minister for-industry and Commerce, the portion of the resolution dealing with the control of traffic—the more sensible portion, in the writer's opinion—was withdrawnand the Senate adopted the other halt of it..
The passing of the resolution may or may not be followed by an increase in the taxation fees for buses. It must not be overlooked, however, that bus owners in the Irish Free State already pay much more per vehicle than do their colleagues in Great Britain arosi Northern Ireland, whilst the Free State duties on imported bodies and chassis add considerably to the cost of maintaining road services.
On the other hand, the need for transport control, as called for in the portion
of the resolution withdrawn, is very zeal. In some districts a chaotic state of affairs exists owing to the unrestricted competition_ between rival bus, tram ad railway companies, and in the interests, even of the bus concerns, it is desirable that some form of governmental control should be exercised,
There is a great field for further bus development in Ireland, and it is unfortunate that so many companies lack the enterprise to open up new districts.
In the course of the debate in the Irish Free State Senate the Minister said that if it wore discovered that
motor vehicles were not paying enough towards the upkeep of the roads, especially the heavy vehicles, then the taxation would certainly be increased. If such increased taxation be imposed some of the bus companies will have themselves, at least, partly to blame. In districts where one or two bus companies operate, their services are welcome and no complaints are heard, but when as many as 17 companies indulge in cut-throat competition on an 8-mile route—as is taking place between Dublin and Bray—unfavourable attention is bound to be attracted.