TRANSPORT PROBLEMS.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 204, 29 August 1929, Page 10

TRANSPORT PROBLEMS.

CRITIC TAKEN TO TASK. REPLY TO MR. MUNNS. HELPFUL SUGGESTION INVITED. "Your statement is a gratuitous insult to gentlemen who are seeking to deal With transport problems, under most difficult conditions," stated Mr. J. A. C. Allutn, chairman of the Auckland Transport Board tO'dfty in a letter replying to criticisms by Mr. G. C. Munns, the member for lloskill in Parliament.

"When you state that 'we feel we are still dominated by the Auckland City Council,' I do not know for whom you claim to speak, but I say most definitely that the Auckland Transport Board is dominated by no one, and will be dominated by Mo one, as a perusal of the various divisions taken by the board' will prove," continued Mr. Alluni. "You are quite Correct in stating that I personally was strongly opposed to the formation of a board, but I had /the good sense to accept the decision of the commisßion of experts Who inquired into transport conditions in the Auckland district. Mfty I also direct your attention to the fact that the Auckland Transport Board did ilot conle into being Until the principle had beert overwhelmingly endorsed by the citizens of every part of tho board's district, and with a full knowledge that the board would be nominated for its first term. In your communication you persist in referring to the (transport undertaking as though it Were Owned by the board, and may I remind you that it is owned by and Operated for the people in the board's district, and I assume that I can include you amongst the number, You state that it will be 18 months before you can expect to get any benefit from the tram extensions. I do not know from whom you have obtained this inforniationj and I should tell you that it is expected the Dominion Road extension will be in Operation in the e«lrly part of next year. I realise that you are entitled to your own opinion regarding private enterprise, and that you are entitled to plead for it, but may I suggest that it is fitting that you should also take into regard the public interest in an undertaking in which Bd6n there Will be nearly tWo-and-a-half million pounds sterling invested." Mr. Allum's concluding observation is: —"I think lam entitled to expect that in your representative capacity you will not criticise the board in the manner you have done, but rather devote your energies to evolve suggestions which will be helpful to the board."