MOTOR TRANSPORT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 70, 24 March 1933, Page 13

MOTOR TRANSPORT.

ROAD REGULATIONS. SYSTEM OF LICENSING. STATEMENT BY MINISTER. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, Thursday. Motor goode services will come under severe restrictions from June 1, in accordance with the terms of comprehensive regulations issued by the Government to-day. Owners of services entitled to automatic licenses must lodge applications before May 1, otherwise they will lose their right to these licenses. The regulations vest the power_ of granting and refusing goods services licenses in the hands of licensing authorities having jurisdiction over passenger services. Licenses will not be required for motor vehicles used solely by persons or firms for the carriage of their own goods or for the carriage of goods entirely within or up to five miles beyond the boundaries of all 'boroughs, town disricte and special exempted areas around the four main centres. Where goods are carried five miles or more beyond specified boundaries, the whole journey comes under control. Exempted Areas. The carriage of goods entirely on formed roads other than main or secondary highways will not require to be licensed, but if any journey includes five miles or more of main or secondary highway outside the exempted areas, a license is required. Special exempted areas in and around the four main centres have been specially drawn to exclude from the licensing system the heavy volume of local traffic within their boundaries. Commenting on the new regulations, the Minister of Transport, Mr. Coates, said the question of reducing transport costs was closely wrapped up with the economic welfare of the Dominion. The Government fully recognised the urgent necessity for reducing coste as one of the steps in the bridging of the gap between costs of production and ruling low receipts from production. Competition With Railways. Reviewing the rapid growth of motor transport, Mr. Coates said not many years ago the motor vehicle was regarded as a meet useful complement to older forms of transport, but recent years had seen it grow to a highly competitive factor in the transport field. In addition to the problems of the loss of earning power of much of the State capital sunk in railways and harbours and of financing roads, there was the problem surrounding railway rates on primary produce. If the railways lost the higher-rated commodities, on which they depended for approximately 40 per cent of their revenue, to the motor vehicle, it was patent that either the country must face annually increasing railway deficits or the charges for primary products on the railways mus be substantially increased. "The aim of the Government in the control of motor services is not their annihilation," Mr. Coates added, "but to attempt to 'delimit the sphere of road, rail and shipping services. Thus, in future, wasteful competition might gradually be eliminated, and each kind of transport be employed in ite area of maximum usefulness."