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OPINIONS FROM OTHERS.

9th September 1919
Page 21
Page 21, 9th September 1919 — OPINIONS FROM OTHERS.
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Our Chaotic. Railway Transport.

The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOP.,

Ll,6881 Sir,—Referring to Air, _Granville F. Bilhi-Leigh's excellent article of August 12th he states: " It is felt that the conditions are being made so intolerable that the country will readily fly into the hands of the new administration"' as a way of escape from a position which is rapidly becoming impossible. Probably there is little or no truth in this suspicion. Vv'e ate more likely experiencing the effect of the new schemes of economy, which are designed to secure Some savings to the railways themselves." Whilst frankly admiring the charitable spirit which the writer displays, there is strong evidence (in directions not touched upon in the above article) that substantiatea the suspicion to whiCh the writer refers.

ThenTransport Bill in its original form demanded entire control over all forms of transport competing with railway traffic, or which might be likely to compete In the future. The Minister required complete control over the generation of electricity, for instance, he was te be sole arbiter of the future destinies of all the various forms of transport.

Since the signing of the armistice the Government have strongly refused to raise the railway rates for freight. Why? They say it is too complicated-the complication was not apparent when they desired to raise passenger rates by 50 per cent. What has been the result? The railways, owincrb to their low charges, have been 'congested, traffic has been delayed, and other forms of transport have been lying idle, coastwise shipping has almost ceased to exist, and road.transport has scrambled for what the railways absolutely refused.

When the public became alarmed, the Government felt the time was ripe to step in and get some kudos for straightening a tangle which they had themselves created. They have, therefore' arranged that the railways are to give coastwise shipping a portion of the traffic they cannot themselves handle, and magnanimously arrange that the railways shall .pay difference for the freightage involved.. By this means the railways and the Government obtain control over coastwise shipping, the latter. loses its "bite" as a competitor to the railways.

In the case of road transport, the interests involved not being so powerful ; the haulage contract& receives no consideration—the Government lend the railways 1,000 motor lorries, to take their excess traffic by road, and, incidentally, to wipe out another coinpetitor--road transport. As the railways already own 50 per cent. of our almost derelict canals, the latter will probably fare somewhat better.

The position of the motor haulage eontractor, howev'er, deser\ves„elose :attention from those 'who desire his continued existence. He has been robbed of two sources of transport. The Government are arranging that he shall not compete with railways, by refusing to raise the rates, and now he cannot compete with coa..stwise shipping ; Moreover they are also, -as already stated, flooding his market with Government-owned vehicles, which they refuse to allow him to operate.. Such an action is un-Beitish tand contrary to the whole principle of English legislation; and if it is allowed to pass unchallenged it will became an unhappy precedent which may, in the near future be applied as unscrupulously -to other industries which at present are inclined to smile indulgently upon what they cOnsider the unwarranted suspicion of the motor haulage contractor. There is one very serious factor in regard to this policy of transport control. Five years ago motor haulage was only beginning to assert itself and to show what it could do in regard to competing with rail services, No living man knew how far it could develop its utility to the public in this direction, but all who bad knowledge of it realized that it had a great future for journeys of moderate distances and, in a few instances, for even long journeys. Is it to the country's interest that this new-form of transport should be prevented from carrying on its natural course of development ? The only people who uphold the theory are its competitets, who say it-must be relegated to services they cannot perform themselves, and that, forsooth,. its further use by the public would only etiustitute wasteful competition.-Yours faithfully, H. TINEY AND CO., LTD.,

C. LE GOSSELIN, Managing Director,

The New Zealand Official Report.

732,e Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.

[1,639] Sir,—I was particularly interested in the article which appeared in your issue of August 19th, dealing 'With the report of one of the officers of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force made to the military authorities in New Zealand, and I agree with your remarks that whoever was responsible for it was incompetent, and I should say that he knows little a,bout lorries or New Zealand roads.

In paragraph (e) of his report he deals with a make

of lorry which he describes as not being a Welldesigned vehicle for existing roads in New Zealand. There is no indication as to what this particular machine is, but, in my opinion, it would have to be very bad indeed in order to be unfit for New Zealand roads. I say without hesitation that the roads out there are very good. Of course, in the heart of the "back blocks, ' where the country is scarcely opened up? the roads are bad, in 'fact, often dwindling tø bridle tracks,. but the coast roads and the inland main roads are far better than a great many of the London roads in their present condition. By the time English makers commence to get their .products out there, there will be very few parts where lorries will be unable to travel, from Auckland to the Bluff.

So far as ray qualifications for expressing opinions

on the roads are concerned, I may say that I speak as one who, previous to the war, was a road contractor to the New Zealand Cl-overnment, and I also speak as a lorry driver. When war was declared I was contracting on the valley road Awakino, North Island. I landed in Southampton from the New Zealand hospital ship in June, 1916, and since then I have driven several makes of motor vehicles and lorries, and so far have not found one English lorry that would be likely to fail, in New Zealand, to stand up to the roads. My hopes centre on returning to New Zealand later on, and.; if I cannot then take out a lorry myself, I hope at least to find an English lorry out there on which to gain a job.

There is ample work and an extensive market for English lorries if the English makers will go for it. The two vehicles with which I am at present con.cerned are a Hallford and an A.E.C., and I shall be quite satisfied to have either one of them, over there. My hope is that English makers.will.get busy before the Ainericans get the whole Of the market there. I am asking you to excuse the length of this letter, but somehow I felt compelled to stand up for English lorries and also for New Zealand roads for the official report to which you wisely gave publicity would be inclined to mislead people into thinking that the roads out there must be in a really shocking

state.—Yours faithfully, C. IT. BARKER.

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Locations: Auckland, Southampton, London

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